From the Ashes
by Astro-xXx-Boy
Summary: Weeks after the Peacekeeper battle, Astro is finally allowed back to school, but things are strange. A voice speaks to Astro, telling him to do bad things and hurt the people he loves. Will Astro ignore the voice, or will he concede? Rated T for language and blood in later chapters. 'From the ashes, it will rise. From the ashes, it will fall...'
1. And Then There Were Three

**Author's Note:** It is finally up! Me and my friend Moonlightpheonix-xX made a collab story! :D:D I think it's awesome. We have a whole plot thought out...kinda. XD She's new to Astro Boy, so if she got any facts wrong from what I told her, then she apologizes. XDDDD But anyway, this is my new Astro Boy 2 fanfic. I hope you enjoy!

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**Prologue: And Then There Were Three...**

Rain poured down through the clouds above Metro City, pattering heavily against the windowpanes at the Ministry of Science. A short, heavyset man with white hair hurried from one end of the lab to the other, carrying little parts with him as he went. He didn't want anyone to help him, as this project was a secret. He was going to make the perfect power source.

This power source…this _core_ would be the key to allowing humans to safely live upon the earth again. No longer would they be trapped in Metro City or in the waste below. The earth would be whole once again. Humans, robots, and animals would live in peace upon the Surface. That's what the scientist wanted. Peace. That's why it had to be a secret…

Dr. Elefun quickly clipped the laser above his head, pointing directly at the star fragment below on the lab table. "It has to be cut perfectly…" he mumbled to himself. "If I mess up just once...it'll be ruined." The scientist turned on the laser. As it powered up, he repositioned it so it would be dead-on. A beeping sounded from across the lab, and he threw his hands up in the air. "Ah, darn it!" Unknowingly, he had knocked the laser out of position ever-so-slightly. The laser fired, and began to cut the star fragment. Elefun looked back and saw it was cutting it, but the position was off. "No!" he shouted, quickly turning off the laser.

So much for the perfect power source. It was ruined! Or maybe not… Maybe it could be saved!

The scientist quickly turned on the purification pump, in hopes that it would work. The pump worked quickly when normally used, but in this case, it didn't. Elefun sighed, turning off the pump slowly. "Ruined. My plan for peace is ruined."

The core shook once and turned black. Trash… More trash to throw upon the surface world. Useless, unneeded trash.

Sighing once more to himself, Elefun took the core in his hands and chucked it out the window in frustration, watching as the core fell down to the surface, the rain making it go faster and faster. Lightning flashed over the Ministry, shaking the whole building as it struck below the city. Turning away from the window, Elefun returned back to the lab table. He noticed that the star fragment was in pieces, and he sighed in defeat. "Typical. Everything that I try to do in secret never works..." he murmured.

Elefun looked away from the table for a moment, before he realized that there was a faint glow in the room, and it wasn't coming from the lab equipment. He turned back around and gasped. On the table were two cores, two _perfect_ cores. One blue, one red. "It worked!" he shouted excitedly. "It _worked!"_

But what Elefun didn't know was that his mishap in the lab actually did work. And it was angry...

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**Author's Note:** So, whatcha think? Please leave a review. :3


	2. Darkness Arises

**Author's Note:** Yaaaay! Chapter 1! Again, this whooooooole story will be written using collaboration writing, so half of this credit goes to Moonlightpheonix-xX. :33 Enjoy the next chapter!

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**Chapter 1: Darkness Arises**

"I get to go back to school?" Astro said excitedly.

His father nodded. "Yes, son. I think that since you saved the city and all, you should be able to go back to school. I need my job at the Ministry back as well."

Astro smiled. "Thanks, Dad!" he replied. Then, Astro's smile quickly faded. "But I'm a robot, won't that be...you know, cheating?"

But Tenma smiled wider. "You're the same smart as Toby was, Astro. Your mind can still develop, whether you believe so or not."

"Okay." Astro smiled.

His attention was pulled to Orrin, who rolled in the room. "Hello, Mas—I mean, Astro. Would you like me to drive you to school?"

Astro smiled and shook his head. "No, Orrin, but thanks. I'll just fly to school." Turning towards the door, Astro's father grabbed hold of his shoulder, causing him to turn back around.

"Be careful, Astro," Tenma sighed quietly.

"I will," Astro replied, determination shining in his honey-brown eyes. With that said, Tenma dropped his hold on his robot son's shoulder, and Astro hurried out the door, his bag in hand. Quickly opening up a window, he hopped out and free-fell outside the penthouse. Once halfway down the length of the building, he kicked on his rockets - burning a bright blue - and flew towards school.

The school had been temporarily moved due to the destruction of the city. They still needed to clean up the rubble of the old building before moving it back.

Astro hurried towards the temporary building, which was an abandoned factory that had been scheduled for wrecking due to the abandonment. But since every wrecking was pushed back until they got the rubble cleaned up, it would have to do as the school.

As soon as Astro got close to the building, he could see all the teens walking into the building with their bags on their shoulders, talking to their friends or staying secluded by themselves. Astro landed a few blocks away. _I'll just walk the rest of the way,_ he told himself, situating his bag better on his back. As he got closer to school, he swallowed nervously. _What will everyone say? Will they crawl all over me and ask me to do things for them?_ Astro sighed to himself, silently praying that didn't happen.

People stopped and stared at him, some with adoration for saving the city, some with curiosity. Others just didn't care and moved on.

Astro looked to the ground. _Maybe this was a bad idea..._ Just as he stepped up the first set of stairs, a boy came up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Astro paused and looked at the boy. He had dark orange hair and freckles, set in a pale face with bright green eyes. He wore a red jacket and blue jeans, and he had a look about him that made Astro feel uneasy.

"Hey, you're Astro, right?" the boy asked.

Astro nodded hesitantly. "Yes. My name's Astro."

The boy turned to look at something far off. Becoming uncomfortable, Astro took another step forward, but the boy stopped him again. "I wasn't done talking to you."

"Well, then go ahead," Astro said calmly.

"Are you really a robot?" the boy asked.

Astro nodded. "Yeah."

"And did you really do all those things that people are saying about saving the city and all that?"

Astro's eyes darted to the ground. "Yeah...uh...what's your name?"

The boy smiled and pointed at his chest. "The name's Blaze. I just switched to this school. I used to go to a private school, but...yeah. It kinda got destroyed."

Astro chuckled to himself. "Yeah, sorry about that. I think I may have flew through that school when I was battling the Peacekeeper."

Blaze's eyes shone. "About that...was Stone really controlling it?"

Astro nodded. "The robot actually absorbed him, and it actually _was _Stone."

"Whoa..." Blaze breathed, his eyes shining as he stared at Astro.

A girl huffed and stomped over to them. She had fiery orange hair, pale blue eyes and a little bit of freckles on her cheeks and nose. "Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaze! I told you not to talk to strangers! The tarots told me they were baaaaaaad news today!"

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Lila, stop complaining." He then turned to Astro, who had a look of complete bewilderment on his face. "This is the famous Astro, you know...the one who saved Metro City?"

Astro shyly scratched the back of his head. "I'm not _that_ famous..."

"Yeah, you are," Blaze replied, laughing.

Astro looked up at the entrance to the school and saw a girl head inside with black hair and purple streaks. His body froze up as Blaze and Lila kept talking. _Was that…Cora?_

Lila blinked. "Ah, random stranger, what's wrong?"

Blaze face-palmed. "He's _not_ a random stranger!" Lila just ignored him.

Astro blinked and turned his head back to the two kids. "Uh...n-nothing. It wasn't anything important."

"Will you be my friend, Astro? I have none," Blaze asked.

Lila rolled her eyes. "Blaaaaaaaze! The tarot cards said noooo!" She shook the boy's shoulders, and Blaze's head whipped back and forth.

"Uh...I don't think that's...necessary, Lila," Astro replied, raising his eyebrow.

"It issssssssssss!" Lila hissed back. "The tarots were baaaaaaaad today!"

Astro flinched and started forward once more. "I'm just gonna...go to class."

"Noo-ooo-ooooo! Hel-llllllp me-eeee-eeeeee!" Blaze called after Astro as Lila kept shaking him back and forth.

Hurrying away from the chaotic pair, he took the second set of stairs and pushed open the door. Inside, it all looked new and refurbished, but then again, abandoned. _Wow, they must've been in a hurry to get out, but I wonder why? _He shook his head and continued on. _Never mind that. I've got to get to class._ As he rounded a corner in the hall, he was greeted by complete silence. Him entering the hallway caused all the kids that were standing around and chatting to one another to stop dead in their tracks and stare at him.

"Is that him?"

"Astro?" a boy asked.

Soon, most of the kids were hurrying over to Astro. Overwhelmed, he pushed past all the kids and ran into a separate room, jumping onto a high ledge so they wouldn't find him. "Whew..." he breathed. Looking below, he watched as all the kids scrambled into the room. When they couldn't find him, they left the room and went to search another.

_I knew this was a bad idea... It's like I'm a celebrity. I like the attention, but not _that_ much..._ As soon as all the kids left, he jumped down.

Brushing off his pants from the dust, Astro looked around the room. It was an old storage closet, full of discarded boxes and dust. He let out a huff. _They didn't even bother to take their storage room boxes..._

A horn blew in the distance and Astro looked up quickly. "Crap!" he cursed to himself, hurrying out of the room and down the hall. Behind him, back in the closet, hidden in a box, a faint black glow illuminated from within.

An eerie, dark glow…

Entering the classroom just as the final horn sounded, Astro looked around the room. Kids were sitting in their seats with their heads down, and a lot of them didn't even look happy. _It _is_ the first day back to school..._ Astro told himself, sitting in a seat next to a blonde girl that he didn't know.

The teacher entered the room, and Astro recognized him as Mr. Mustachio. Smiling at the familiar face, the teacher began to address the class. "Good morning, students. Sorry that we couldn't have found this place earlier, but the Ministry of Science is working on a lot of things right now, which includes getting Metro City back into the air." The teacher looked to his left, and his eyes locked with Astro's. "Oh, well, hello."

All the students in the room turned to look at Astro, and he sank a little in his seat. Something about this place just felt very uncomfortable to him, but he couldn't understand what it was. "Hi..." he replied quietly.

"It's...good to have you back, Toby," the teacher said, smiling.

"Uh...I'm Astro," Astro told him.

"Oh! Sorry about that," Mr. Mustachio said with a nervous chuckle.

A little ways away, Astro spotted Blaze and Lila. _Lila must've finally let go of Blaze,_ Astro said to himself as he zoned back into Mr. Mustachio's lecture.

"Alright, now who can tell me what happened 15 years ago at the Battle of the Jeane?"

Astro raised his hand, but Mr. Mustachio kept looking around the room. "Anyone?"

The blonde girl next to Astro stood up from her desk. Astro looked at her as she opened her mouth to say something. "I don't think it's fair that this robot is at school," she said snottily. "He obviously knows everything, and it's just not fair."

Astro's mouth dropped as soon as she said that. _She must hate robots. _"What makes you say I know everything?" he asked her.

"You're a robot, duh! You have a robot brain, you can calculate everything!" the girl replied.

"Children, settle down now," Mr. Mustachio tried.

Lila stood next. "I disagree. This robot is a child like everyone else here, no matter what the tarots say."

"Shut up, freak. No one cares about your dumb tarot cards," the blonde girl replied.

"Hey!" Blaze exclaimed, standing up from his desk. "Leave my sister alone. She can do what she wants."

_They're siblings?_ Astro asked himself as the chaos continued in the classroom. "Don't _I_ have a say in this?"

"NO!" the blonde shouted. "Freak!"

"That's enough!" Mustachio called out. "Emily, if you can't behave, then you'll have to go to the principal's office!"

"I'm not going to a _robot's_ office!" Emily snarled.

"How charming," Lila remarked sarcastically.

"Why you little...!" Emily charged over towards Lila. Lila looked scared for a moment, before Astro hopped out of his desk and held Emily back. "Get your hands off of me, you filthy robot!"

"Calm down, there's no need to start anything," Astro declared.

"Get off!" she shouted.

"Emily!" Mr. Mustachio yelled. "To the principal's office now, or I'll have you expelled!"

After a moment, Emily broke free from Astro and - huffing defiantly - she left the room.

_This was definitely a bad idea..._ Astro sighed. Turning to Lila, he said, "Are you okay?"

Lila blinked. "Glad _I_ don't sit next to her!"

"I don't think she'll be here for much longer after this," Astro said.

"Yeah, no doubt about that," Blaze snorted. "If you ask me, she's a total brat. She always gets what she wants, and when she doesn't, she throws a huge fit about it."

"Oh, hush up," Lila replied. "It's not right to talk about people. The cards warned you about this!"

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Would you stop with the cards?"

"What are tarot cards?" Astro asked. Lila looked at Astro like he was completely stupid.

"They are gateways to the otherwordly realm! They tell the futuuuuuuuuuuure!" Lila exclaimed.

"You can't tell the futu—"

Blaze quickly clamped his hand over Astro's mouth. "Shh! Don't tell her that."

"Wah no?" Astro mumbled under Blaze's hand.

"Because she'll freak the heck out," Blaze whispered in his ear.

"I can hear you, you know," Lila retorted, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Okay...now that that's over with..." Mustachio began, "I think it's time for lunch..."

"WOOT! FOOD!" Lila exclaimed and ran out.

"Is she always like this?" Astro asked Blaze.

He shrugged. "Yeah. It's just her way, I guess... But on the brighter side, let's go get some lunch!" He began towards the door, then stopped in his tracks and turned around. "You _can_ eat food, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's no problem," Astro replied.

Lila was waiting out the door. "Now, as I was saying..." she started, "Tarot cards are the most amazing things EVER! You can get so much from the little pieces of paper, but some of them are very baaaaaaaaad! Like the death card, teller of absolutely bad endings! Blaze here got that card today. I think he might lose a friend or break up with his girlfriend today. Oh well."

Astro eyed Blaze with curiosity. "You have a girlfriend? But you're only like...12!"

"I'm 14," Blaze answered.

"Oh," Astro chuckled nervously. "Sorry!"

As they entered the makeshift lunchroom, Astro got in line, followed by Lila and Blaze. "So about that friend request, Blaze...the answer is yes."

"Really?" he gasped.

Astro nodded. "I love making new friends, so Lila here can be my friend too."

"Who said I _wanted_ to be your friend?"

Astro turned his head around and frowned at her sadly. She giggled, causing Astro to raise an eyebrow.

"I was just kidding! Jeez, take a joke." Lila smiled at him. "You're not mad, right?"

Astro smiled back. "I'm never mad."

"Yay!"

Astro laughed. _Lila seems nice, despite the tarot cards,_ he thought. _And Blaze seems cool. I think we have the beginnings of a great friendship._

Grabbing his lunch - pizza and curly fries with chocolate milk - Astro sat down at a table, and waited as Lila and Blaze got theirs and joined him. Taking a bite of his pizza slice, Astro looked around the lunchroom. He froze as soon as his eyes flew over the girl with black hair and purple highlights. _Seriously, is that Cora? I need to know..._

Astro dropped his pizza and got up from the table.

Lila and Blaze watched in curiosity as Astro hurried over towards the girl, swallowing nervously. _Could it be her? I haven't seen her since she was reunited with her parents..._

Astro stretched his hand out to touch the girl's shoulder. "Cora?" he asked quietly. The girl turned around.

But it wasn't Cora.

Astro's hand recoiled back. "Oh...I-I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

"It's...okay," the girl replied, turning back around to eat her lunch.

Astro returned to Lila and Blaze, distraught. He began to pick at his food half-heartedly, his hand on his face, his eyes full of sorrow.

Lila blinked. "Should I check your tarots?"

"Sure, why not?" Astro said, sighing.

Blaze face-palmed and shook his head. "Oh, great, here she goes again..."

Lila spread the cards under the table so no one could see them. "They tell of lost love. But fear not, you will reunite soon."

Astro's eyes widened.

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you believe that crap."

"It's not crap, Blaze!" Lila exclaimed.

_Lost love? But I don't love anyone...do I?_ Astro thought.

She looked at the cards and gasped. "Oh dear…"

"What?" Astro asked.

"Oh my heavens…" Lila gasped. "There is also great misfortune in your future."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Astro asked nervously.

Blaze slapped his face with his hand again and sighed. "I don't even..." He broke off and sighed once again.

"Shut up, Blaze," Lila snapped.

"Girl, I do what I want!" Blaze said, stuffing his face full of pizza.

Lila rolled her eyes and continued. "I read much destruction. Your love my be lost again..."

"I...don't understand. What are you saying?" Astro asked, his voice wobbling.

"I'm sorry," Lila replied. "That's all the cards tell me."

Astro quietly looked at the ground. "I've lost my appetite," he murmured, pushing his tray away and getting up from the table, slowly walking away with his hands in his pockets.

Lila blinked and took his tray. "More for me."

Blaze glared at his sister. "You're more worried about food than about your friend?" He stared after Astro as he left the room. "Poor Astro. I wonder what's on his mind..."

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Astro walked down the halls of the makeshift school. _I'll reunite with my love again, but then I'll lose it again... What does it all mean? _Troubled thoughts on his mind, Astro didn't realize that he had walked back to the storage closet he was in before. He looked in the doorway, but something seemed off from the last time he was in here.

This time, he could see a glowing, eerie light…

"What is that?" Astro asked himself, looking through the small window that showed the interior of the closet. Pressing his hands against the Plexiglas, he watched the closet interior as the glow became more intense. _Odd..._ he thought, peering deeper into the closet, trying to see the source of the glow, but he couldn't.

He heard a voice; a man's voice, stern and calm. _Come here,_ it ordered.

Astro grabbed the side of his head quickly. _What was that?_ he wondered. _It made my head vibrate, but it was also echoing..._

_I SAID COME HERE!_ it screeched.

A ring of feedback screeched through Astro's head, and he grabbed both sides, falling to his knees with his eyes clenched shut. "Who are you?" he asked, trying to clear his head from the ringing.

The voice was calm again. _Come here. I will not ask you again._

Astro got to his feet once more, the ringing finally dying down. He had a sudden overwhelming feeling, telling him to go back into the supply closet. He pressed the button on the side of the door and it slid open quickly. Astro slowly stepped inside the closet. Once inside just enough, the door slammed shut behind him. He whipped around, pressing the button to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

_Come to me, essence of blue,_ the voice rang. It was smooth, almost soothing now.

Astro blinked. _Essence of blue?_ Without giving another thought, Astro inched towards the back of the room. "Who are you?" he asked, looking around the large closet.

_Come closer to me…_ the voice whispered.

"Where are you?" Astro asked, his voice becoming quieter as he felt as if the air was being sucked out of it. Taking a few more steps towards the end of the room, he paused.

_Come to me, my fragment…_ the voice whispered. _Come…_

Taking a few more hesitant steps forward, Astro felt very uneasy. A sudden faint buzzing filled his ears, and he grabbed the sides of his head in hopes to drown it out, but to no avail.

_Come!_ the voice growled. _Come to me!_

Astro jerked forward suddenly, hurrying towards the end of the room. As soon as he did however, the voice laughed evilly, overwhelming Astro's head, the ringing becoming louder and more unbearable. After a few more moments of ringing and laughing, Astro's system began to shut down as everything faded to black.

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**Author's Note:** Wow, I seriously just noticed how long this chapter was. XD Please review! :3


	3. A Peculiar Day

**Author's Note:** This chapter's not as long, but that's because the real intense dark crap is next chapter. oUo So get ready for a buttload of darkness...MUAHAHAHA!

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**Chapter 2: A Peculiar Day **

Astro woke up a little while later. _How did I end up in the closet…?_ Looking around, he realized that barely any light shone through the window. _Oh, crap! Did I sleep through the whole day? …But I had a good night's sleep last night..._ He stood. _Dad will be worried…_

Hurrying out the door, he kicked on his rockets and flew through the hallways, bursting through the front door and towards the penthouse. He could see it was clearly nighttime. _Crap…_ _Dad will be so worried…_

Leaping through his open bedroom window, Astro landed on his floor. Hopefully his father wouldn't be awake—

"Astro?"

_Crap!_ Astro turned towards his father as he switched the light on overhead. His father was in his pajamas and looked like he hadn't been sleeping at all. "Hi," he greeted, chuckling nervously.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"I-I...I was..." Astro broke off and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I don't really remember."

Tenma took him to his bed and sat next to him. "What _do_ you remember?"

"I remember walking through the halls and then blank," Astro replied, looking at the ground. "I woke up in a closet."

His father scratched his chin, deep in thought. "Hmm…"

"Do you know something?" the robot asked.

Tenma shook his head. "No, I really don't know. It's very peculiar..."

Astro bit his lip. _What happened…?_

Staring at the ground, Astro jumped as his father placed his hand on his shoulder. "A little jumpy?" Tenma chuckled, getting up from the bed. "Maybe a good night's rest will help you remember. Good night, Astro."

Astro smiled. "Night, Dad."

As soon as his father left the room, Astro took off his jacket and hung it on his bed frame. Looking down at his boots, he realized that he actually never tried to take them off. _I wonder…_ Astro reached down and yanked on his boots. To his shock and surprise, the boots slipped off very easily, revealing his foot. "Aw, gross! I remember why I never _did_ now!" he mumbled to himself, covering his nose. "They stink _really_ bad..."

_Weird how Toby's feet stank and how mine do too... I guess my Dad really _did_ make me almost exact._ He sighed. _Oh well…_

Hopping underneath the covers, Astro's eyes closed as he shut himself off for a good night's rest.

* * *

Astro awoke to a strange sound: the sound of metal scraping against metal. He looked around. There was nothing…but the noise continued. _What is that noise? _Astro asked, sitting up on the edge of the bed. He looked around frantically. _And why am I so panicky?_

_Astro..._ a voice whispered in his ear.

He whipped around, but there was no one there. _What the…?_

_Astro, my child…_ it whispered again. _Come back…_

Astro stood up quickly, and realized that his feet were cold. _Oh, yeah. I took off my boots. _Astro quickly put his boots back on, plugging his nose while doing so.

_I need you, Astro…_ the voice whispered once more.

Astro looked around his bedroom. _This is so weird. Am I…am I malfunctioning or something?_

_Please come back…_ it whispered. _Come back to me…_

"Come back to where...?" he mumbled to himself.

But the voice didn't sound again.

Astro rose an eyebrow and sighed. _Well, so much for that. I think I should bring this up to Dad. _Hurrying down the stairs, he was greeted by Orrin rolling past with a tray in his hands. The nervous house robot nearly toppled over as Astro raced past.

"Sorry!" Astro called back as he hurried toward his father's room.

As Astro neared his father's room, he froze in his tracks. _I don't think I should go in... _he thought. _I've never been in my father's room _ever_._

_Go in or not…?_ he asked himself. He felt the strong need to go in his father's room, but he was scared to.

Steeling himself, he pressed the button on the side of the door, and his father's door slid open. His father's room was dark; the shades were down over the large window to his left. To the right, Astro could see the light on in the bathroom. He hurried over to the bathroom and peeked inside, but there was no one there.

He frowned. _That's odd. Why would the light be on if he wasn't…?_

Astro turned back around and was instantly greeted by his father. "Hello, Dad," Astro greeted timidly.

"What're you doing in my room?" Tenma asked calmly. "You know you're not allowed back here."

"U-uh..." Astro stuttered, looking away and at the ground. "I-I... I think I—"

Orrin rolled into the room, and nearly jumped out of his robot skin. Astro jumped a little, startled by his sudden appearance. _What's wrong with me? Why am I being so jumpy? _he asked himself.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," Orrin said, turning around. "I'll just go."

"Nonsense," Tenma said, and Orrin turned back around. "Orrin, I need to speak with you." His father turned back to Astro. "Son, go and eat breakfast and get ready for school."

Astro nodded. "O-okay," he replied, leaving his father's room.

Sighing to himself, Astro rubbed his left arm nervously, entering the dining room. "Just go eat," Astro mimicked to himself. As he sat down, he blinked. _Where did _that _come from? _Astro decided not to worry too much.

Digging into his pancakes and eggs, he looked up as his father came in the room with Orrin on his heels. Tenma sat down at the end of the table and tied a napkin around his neck. Orrin just continued on into the kitchen to do some more cleaning, or cooking. Astro took a slow bite of his pancake, staring intently at his father as he ate his breakfast. _I really need to tell him about that...malfunction, but how can I? He's pushing me...away..._ Astro set his fork back onto his plate and stood up from the table. "I'm...not hungry."

His father watched as Astro hurried out the dining room and back upstairs to his room. He was going to see if the grinding noise would continue in his room.

Entering through the door, he listened intently for the noise, but couldn't hear it. Astro shrugged it off and continued towards his closet, picking out a dark gray sweater and black jeans. After he put the clothes on, he blinked. _Why am I wearing dark clothes...?_

_Should I change them?_ But he thought better of it. _These clothes are fine,_ he thought.

Astro reached for his bag where he usually had it, but realized it wasn't there. _Aw, I must've left it in that closet when I woke up. _He frowned. _Oh well. I'll get it when I get to school._

Hurrying back downstairs, Astro opened up the living room door and stepped inside. Orrin rolled towards him with keys in his hand. "Would you like a ride, Astro?"

Astro shook his head. "No thanks." He hurried towards the open window and jumped out, kicking his rockets on and flying back to the makeshift school at the abandoned factory. _I wonder how Lila and Blaze are doing?_ He shrugged. _Guess I'll see when I get there._

Landing at the base of the first set of stairs, Astro was instantly surrounded with a group of kids.

"Can you take me for a ride?"

"Show us your arm cannons!"

"Can you really communicate with robot dogs?"

Astro frowned. All this attention was making him uncomfortable… "U-uh…guys?"

"Tell us how you defeated the Peacekeeper!"

"Could you actually look through clothes using your x-ray vision?"

Astro's eye began twitching.

"Astro!"

"ASTRO!"

Astro squinted his eyes shut and grabbed the sides of his head. "SHUT UP!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

A great wall of silence greeted his words as he opened his eyes back up and lowered his hands. His eyes widened when he realized what he said. All those shocked faces… Some people even looked scared. No, not scared; terrified.

"I-I...I'm sorry," Astro murmured, hurrying away from all the kids and into the building, bursting through the door and down the hall towards the closet to retrieve his bag.

His ears started to ring and the voice came back. _You've returned! You've returned!_

His free hand flew to his ear as he opened the door. "What?"

_Are you going back there when you leave this building?_ the voice asked. _Back to the man who threw you to the Surface? Left you to fend for yourself or die?_

Astro took a sharp breath, a sharp pain running through his head. "Wh-what? What're you talking about? Who?"

"You know, you are really my child," the voice replied. _I made you. I made your 'soul', essence of blue. I would never throw you out like trash. That's why he did. You were unneeded. Unwanted. _Trash.

Astro rose an eyebrow, staring back at the end of the closet, where it seemed to get darker. "Who threw me away...?" Astro broke off as he recalled the events before he saved the city from the Peacekeeper. "M-my...father...?"

_The person who _claims _to be your father, my child._ the voice echoed. I am your true father. _I would _never _throw you away. I would not hate you or yell or be disappointed. You are my child. I am your father. Come to me, my child. Come to me, son. Essence of blue..._

The pain subsided, and Astro blinked, staring straight ahead. He looked mesmerized, as if fixated upon something. Taking a few steps forward, he inched ever so closer to the box in the corner where the dark shadow loomed.

_That's right, my son. Come to me. We shall become one._

Astro's eyes turned dark gray, and he froze, staring in the corner. "Become...one..." he mumbled.

_I will care for you. I will give you the respect you deserve from these _humans.

"Respect...deserve..." Astro said, his voice becoming somewhat distorted.

"ASTRO!" Blaze's voice shouted from the hallway.

Astro's eyes returned to normal and the ringing in his head returned. Grabbing his head once more he looked to the right. _Oh...there's my bag._ Grabbing it quickly, he looked back into the corner of the closet, but there was no shadow or anything there, and the voice hadn't returned.

He blinked in confusion. _What just happened? _Frowning and glancing back in the corner once more, he pressed the button to open the door and stepped out into the hallway, bag in hand.

Lila, who was behind her brother, sighed. "There is a bad aura in that room. Don't go back in there."

Astro looked at the ground and threw his bag over his shoulder. "I was just getting my bag..." Without waiting for a reply, Astro began walking away from the siblings.

Lila huffed. "What's _his_ problem?"

Astro glanced back from the corner of his eye. "I don't have a problem..."

Blaze crossed his arms. "Well, there's obviously something up. You disappear for the rest of the school day yesterday, and today we find you in a _closet_ being all gloomy and crap."

Astro just shrugged, continuing towards his class. "I don't know," he replied.

Lila frowned and turned to Blaze. _"Never _underestimate the cards again."

"The cards didn't warn you about his weird behavior, did they?" Blaze retorted, glaring at his sister.

Astro froze to the spot as the siblings continued to argue.

"They told me bad things would happen. Now shut up, it'll start raining soon," Lila hissed. When Blaze looked at his sister with bewilderment, she added, _"Yes,_ the cards told me _that_ too!"

Astro slowly turned around, looking at the ground. "I...feel weird..."

"Maybe you should visit the nurse?" Lila suggested.

Astro looked sideways a bit. "I don't think it's a sickness... I can't get sick."

"Um… Maybe there's a mechanic nearby that can help?" Lila replied with a sheepish grin.

"I...don't know..." Astro trailed off, and began to stagger on his feet.

Blaze and Lila darted forward, Blaze catching the boy robot before he landed on the ground. "Astro! Are you okay?" Blaze asked, his voice rising into a high-pitched whine.

"Cut that whining out, or I'll do it for you," Lila warned.

Astro's eyes were fluttering open and shut. "I tried...telling my...dad...but he...wouldn't listen..." he whispered.

Lila scowled. "Blaze, go get a teacher or something! He needs help!"

Blaze was frozen to the spot, but after a few seconds, he gently set Astro on the ground and ran off in the direction of the classrooms.

Lila looked back down at Astro. "Stay with me, dude. Don't die on me now."

Astro stifled a laugh. "Hilarious. I can't...exactly _die_ unless my...Core is...taken out."

Lila poked him. "Where is it, duuuuude?"

But Astro didn't answer. His head rolled to the side and his eyes closed.

She started to freak out. "HELP!" she yelled. What was taking Blaze so long?!

Astro began to convulse, letting off little electricity waves that burnt bright blue. Lila stepped back, shocked by one of the sparks. She rubbed her arm and looked back at where Blaze disappeared. Almost instantly, Blaze came around the corner with Mr. Mustachio, and they raced towards Lila and the convulsing Astro.

Lila hid behind Blaze. "H-he just p-passed out and started sparking! I swear I-I d-didn't do anything!"

Mr. Mustachio tried to get over to Astro to find out what was wrong, but he was too afraid of getting zapped. "We're going to have to call his father," he said, turning back to Lila and Blaze.

But just as Mustachio got to his feet, Astro stopped convulsing and sparking, lying completely still.

Blaze's eyes were wide. "Is...is he...?"

"H-he said he couldn't..." Lila choked. Her bottom lip started to quiver and tears filled her eyes. What if he _was_ dead? She knew something bad would happen, she just didn't know it would be _this_ bad! She felt like it was her fault.

Just then, Astro's eyes fluttered, and he began coughing. Blaze leaned in and helped him to sit up. Astro held his fist in front of his mouth while he coughed. He opened his fist and saw black grime, but it wasn't oil.

Lila gave him a confused look and looked at the grime. She was still tearing up, just not as bad.

"What...what just...happened?" he asked, his voice shaky, still looking at the grime in his hand.

"You just sort of blacked out and then you started convulsing and producing lightning, and I went to go get help, and—"

"Blaze," Mr. Mustachio interrupted. "Calm yourself, son."

Blaze sighed and looked at the grime that Astro held. "We thought you were dead," Lila replied blankly.

Astro glanced at Lila with his honey-brown eyes. "I told you I can't die. Not unless my Core dies too."

"About that," Lila started. "You never answered my question…"

"About what?" Astro asked.

Lila just replied with a devious grin.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, what'd you think? Good, or no? ^^ I think it was awesome. The darkness is up next...

Leave a review! :3


	4. Overwhelmed

**Author's Note:** And here's chapter 3! I'm warning you, there is mild language and darkness in this one. XD Good luck and enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Overwhelmed**

Astro blinked as Lila just smiled at him. "Uh…what exactly are you asking?"

"I asked where your Core was." Lila smiled. "Your stomach?" she guessed.

Astro smiled and shook his head, chuckling a little. "No, guess again."

Blaze answered for Lila. "Is it in your head?"

Astro laughed. "No. Lila? Any more guesses?"

"Abs?" she joked.

"I don't have any abs," Astro laughed. "Fine, do you give up, Lila?"

"Yes." she replied in defeat.

He laughed. "It's where your heart is." Astro pointed at his chest on the right side. "Right here."

Lila face-palmed. "Well… Can't believe I didn't guess that."

"Haha, loser," Blaze laughed. "That was my next guess!"

Lila just glared at her brother, and then turned back to Astro. "Can I see it?"

"I don't know if that would be wise, children," Mr. Mustachio said from a few feet away. "After a scare like that, I don't think his Core should be exposed."

Lila pouted, not hearing Mustachio's comment. "Can I, Astro? Pleeeeaaaaase?"

Something snapped in Astro at that moment, and his eyes narrowed at Lila. "Didn't you hear Mustachio? He said no!" he said flatly.

She raised her hands slowly in mock surrender. "Okay, okay…" Under her breath, she muttered, "Touchy…" But Astro didn't seem to acknowledge it.

Astro grabbed his head and looked at the ground. _What is _wrong_ with me?_

Blaze held out his hand for Astro to grab. Astro looked up and grabbed for Blaze's hand. Pulling the robot up, Blaze stepped back to his sister. The robot boy rubbed at his temples with his eyes closed for a moment, before opening them again and dropping his hands to his sides. "I'm going to get to class now, and you guys should too."

Lila bit her lip. "Okay…"

Hurrying down the hall, he rounded the corner and quickened his pace. _I feel strange... I think I'm malfunctioning._ Coming to the hall that lead to his classroom, Astro slowed down. _I _really_ need to tell Dad about this, but he won't listen... _He sighed and looked around. _Where is my class, again?_

Locating his classroom, he entered through the door, and was greeted with silence. _Well…at least they're not crowding me now…_ he thought. Very slowly and quietly, he slipped into his desk and sat down, instantly putting his head down on his desk.

The teacher looked at him. "It seems we have a new student…" Astro lifted his head, his face grumpy. "What's your name?"

Astro opened his mouth to answer, but a boy with dark brown hair answered. "Duh! That's the famous Astro Boy!" he replied.

Angry, Astro stood up and glowered at the boy. "He asked me, _not_ you! _Got it?!"_

The boy nervously nodded as quickly as he could, sinking in his seat as soon as Astro sat back in his desk.

"Well that behavior won't get you anywhere, kid," the teacher told Astro. "Brighten up, will ya?"

Astro just scowled in response to that. _What's wrong with me today?!_ he asked himself angrily. _This has _definitely_ got to be a malfunction..._ Sighing to himself, he added,_ That's it. I'm telling Dad about this, whether he wants to talk or not._

He sighed and looked back up at the teacher as he began his lesson on science and agriculture. _I have to wait until I get home though... I can't ditch class again, Dad would get really upset..._ Astro scowled. _Ah, why should he care?! He didn't care this morning!_

Astro's emotions continued to cloud his judgment up until lunchtime. Exiting the room, he sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets._ I'm not hungry at all today... Even though I only need to eat just a little food a day in order to keep myself growing, 'cause Dad said even _I _can still grow... _He broke off his thoughts and pushed open the door to the lunchroom. _I just...don't have an appetite..._

He bit his lip. _Maybe just a little. For show so people don't worry… Oh, why should I care if people worry?!_

Glowering some more, Astro walked in the room with his head down. Sitting down at the table he sat at yesterday, he sat his head on his hand and sighed. _So much for _that_ theory..._

Lila and Blaze sat with him again, but Lila kept her head down.

"Hi…Astro," Blaze said quietly.

Astro kept ignoring him, staring out the large window on the other side of the room.

Lila shrank in her seat and timidly ate her pizza.

"Hi…" Astro replied through his teeth.

Blaze looked at Lila, who just shrugged and continued chewing. "Are you…okay, Astro?"

"I'm fine!" Astro snapped.

Blaze flinched back, and Lila nearly choked on her pizza. "Dude, what the hell?"

Astro said nothing.

Blaze looked at Lila as she regained her breath. "Something's clearly wrong with him," he murmured to his sister.

Lila scowled. "He can take it away from us, then."

Astro glared at the two of them out of the corner of his eye, and got up with his head down. "I'm going for a walk."

"Bye," Lila replied.

Sending a nasty look back their way, Astro hurried out of the lunchroom and down the hall.

Blaze looked back at Lila with a clear but confused look on his face. "Is he _supposed_ to act that way? Because he wasn't like that before…"

"Don't care," Lila snapped. "We were being nice to him and then he goes and fricking treats us like dogs. Good riddance."

Blaze sighed and sat his face in his hand, watching the door.

* * *

Astro hurried down the hallway, his head down and his fists balled up at his sides. _What the _hell_ is wrong with me?! _Then he stopped dead in his tracks. _What did I just think?! Did I just_ swear? he asked himself. _I am _definitely_ malfunctioning…_

Looking up, he realized that he had walked outside and was standing on the second set of stairs. _I should go to the Ministry and tell Dad…but then again, I don't want to skip any class…_ He scowled and looked to the ground once more. _Who cares if I miss class? What's the point? I already know everything they're teaching… Maybe that Emily girl was right, maybe I _do_ already know everything…_

_Speaking of Emily, I wonder if she got suspended?_ He scoffed to himself and smirked. _Serves her right._

He blinked. _What am I _saying? Scuffing his foot on the sidewalk pavement, he looked into the sky. _I'm going to the Ministry. _He took a deep breath. _And I don't _care_ if I skip._

With a huff, Astro jumped into the sky and flew towards the Ministry, his bright blue flames trailing behind him. _He's going to listen to me, this time, _Astro thought. _I'll make him! _Flying forward with a burst of speed, Astro raced towards the Ministry building.

_We will become one…_ a voice echoed in his ear.

Astro's eyes slowly turned a dark gray, and his rocket flames slowly became black.

_Let us join together…_ the voice echoed.

"Join…together…" Astro mumbled as he sped towards the Ministry of Science that loomed in the distance.

_Yes! We shall be one and you shall finally get the respect these filthy humans owe you!_

As Astro reached the building, he plummeted as fast as he could towards the ground, landing with his fist in the pavement, pieces of the ground below him showering down on him. Astro stood up and brushed off his hands while a few scientists looked on in complete and utter shock. "I _do_ deserve respect! I'm more powerful than them," he muttered to himself, his eyes beginning to swirl with a darker black.

_You're smarter, too._

"Yeah…smarter." A wide grin threw itself onto Astro's face as he burst through the doors to the Ministry. A dozen scientists immediately stopped what they were doing and stared as he stomped his way inside.

"A-Astro, what's going on?" Dr. Elefun asked from the other side of the room next to the elevator.

Astro simply ignored him and walked past, entering the elevator and going up until he reached the eleventh floor, which his father always worked on. "Dad!" he called sternly.

When his father didn't answer or appear from the room, he became angrier. _Dammit! Answer me! _He decided to try a different approach. _"Tenma!"_ he shouted.

The large door opened and his father stepped out. "Astro?" he asked.

Astro just stomped over to him. "I've been trying to tell you this for a _long_ time, and you've been ignoring me. I've had _enough_ of it! You treat me like _crap!"_

Tenma's eyes widened. "A-Astro…"

_This man doesn't care for you. No _human_ does! Only I care… You must eliminate this man! Immediately! Before he corrupts you! Remember, Astro, this man is below you. He's dirt! Trash! _Human! the voice snarled.

Astro zoned out once more. "Humans…trash…" he murmured.

Tenma furrowed his brow. "Astro? What's wrong? What are you saying?"

Astro's eyes slowly trained onto Tenma's face, and his father finally realized that they weren't normally colored. "A-Astro?! Your eyes! What's going on?!"

"Humans are trash," he said, his voice sounding more robotic-like. "You must be eliminated!" With lightning-fast speed, Astro lifted his arm - which in turn changed into an arm cannon - and took aim at Tenma. A dark black energy surged in the cannon, and quickly, Tenma leaped to the side. Astro's cannon blast ripped a hole in the laboratory doors, causing debris to fly everywhere and the fire alarms to go off.

Tenma panted. This wasn't like Astro… He had to snap him out of it! "Astro! Stop it! This is nonsense!" his father shouted above the alarm.

Astro turned his head and aimed for Tenma again. His father scrambled to his feet and missed blast number two by a hair - literally. Tenma brushed off the smoke coming from his head.

"You are not worthy…" Astro mumbled. "Must eliminate!"

Before Astro could fire, a few scientists came up behind Astro and whacked him over the head with a fire extinguisher. Unfazed by this attack, Astro whipped around and aimed for the scientists. All three of them panicked and ran off, while another black energy blast surged through the window and shattered it to pieces.

Tenma snuck up behind the robot and grabbed his shoulders. He forced him to look at him. "Astro! This is not you! Calm yourself!"

As his father shook him, Astro just continued to stare blankly into his eyes. "Broken…" his voice rang out, distorted. "I'm broken…"

Tenma frowned. "Let's get you fixed up." Tenma grabbed a hold of Astro's hand and pulled, but he wouldn't budge. "Astro, come on!" But the robot continued to be a statue. "Snap out of it, son! Do I have to hit you?!"

Astro whipped his head up to stare at Tenma, his eyes narrowed. "Don't you _dare_ touch me!" Astro hissed, removing himself from his father's grasp and pointing the cannon at his face.

Tenma didn't budge as Astro powered up his cannon. "Is this what you truly want, Astro?"

Astro's cannon continued to power up, but his eye twitched a little. "Eliminate…humans…broken…"

"To kill your own father? And then slowly begin to kill off the entire human race?" Tenma continued.

Astro's eye began twitching more, and his arm faltered, his cannon slowly powering down. "I'm sorry, Dad…" he whispered. His eyes closed abruptly and he fell to the floor. Astro's father held out his arms to quickly catch the robot.

With a sigh, Tenma stood. "Let's see what's wrong, shall we?" Turning around and going back into the lab - despite the broken-ness of the eleventh floor of the Ministry and the alarms going off - Tenma held his robot son with a fatherly gentleness as he brought him over to the lab table on the other side of the room.

* * *

Tenma hadn't found anything strange in the boy's circuits. Nothing that could possibly have caused his odd behavior… Currently, Astro was in a jail cell. He had been put in police custody.

Tenma entered the prison escorted by a guard. The guard took him straight to Astro's cell. Astro sat in the back of the cell facing the wall in the corner, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, his head down. "Astro?" his father called gently.

Astro turned his head slightly, revealing his tear-filled eyes. Seeing his robot son cry made Tenma's heart break. Tenma pressed his hands up against the cell doors. "I'm going to get you out, don't worry, son," he murmured to him. "Your bail is a little higher than I'd like, but I'm trying to get the money."

Slowly, Astro got to his feet and turned to face Tenma. "Don't even bother, Dad. I belong in here."

Tenma shook his head. "I'll fix whatever's broken…"

Astro looked at the ground for a moment before replying, "I think I'm malfunctioning… I've been having these weird…voices in my head, and every time I do, I just…black out." Astro returned his gaze to his father, who looked at him with sad eyes.

"Don't worry," his father repeated. "I _will_ get you out of there. A hero of Metro City shouldn't be in a jail cell."

Astro gave him a small smile. "Th-thank you…"

Tenma returned the smile. "Don't thank me, son. It's a promise." And with that, Tenma left Astro alone in the cell.

Astro sighed sitting back down in the corner, but this time he was facing towards the bars of the cell. A cockroach crawled over him, but he didn't mind it. The prison was on the Surface after all; of course there would be bugs. _I just hope that whatever those scientists claimed I did doesn't happen again…_ Astro thought to himself.

_Are you sure? What you did was honorable._ The voice was back…

Astro grabbed the sides of his head, the ringing returning. _Why won't you leave me alone? You're making me hurt the people I love! And you made me go to prison for it!_

_You love humans? It's a shame you love at all._

Astro frowned. _What do you mean? I know I'm a robot, but I have emotions just like normal humans._ He sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees again, lowering his head onto them. _I just…wish I wasn't…so weird. I wish I were normal. I wish I were human…_

The voice cackled. _You _want_ to be human? Haha! That's a good one!_

Astro scowled at nothing in particular. _What's wrong with wanting to be human? I _was_ human once, but it…just wasn't _me,_ but yet again it _was…He broke off and looked out the small window to his left, seeing Metro City outside with all the hover cars driving on the highway, and the high-speed train zooming past on the tracks. He sighed. _When you're human, you're actually treated like a person, and not some machine…_ Thinking back to Emily in the class the other day, he looked back at the ground. _And no one will hate you _because_ you're a machine…_

_Emily was a damn fool. Forget her._

_But how _can_ I forget? She called me a filthy robot…_ Astro's eyes began to tear up. _I just wish I were human…then maybe people would get along with me better…_

_Haha! Humans are fools!_

Astro just ignored the voice, his tears falling onto his knees. _My father… I miss my father…_ he thought, sobbing to himself.

_Your father is a fool._

_My father created me!_ Astro shouted at the voice. _My father loves me!_

The voice snorted. _Your _'father'_ doesn't love you. Look at the way he treated you before!_

_Yes, but that was before he finally accepted me,_ Astro replied.

_And you're going to believe that now?_ the voice asked.

Astro simply ignored the voice and continued sobbing in the corner of his cell.

* * *

Blaze sighed as he sat in class, doodling on his deskpad. It had been a day since he saw Astro last, and he was getting worried. Of course, Lila was still angry. Blaze looked over at his sister as she scowled to herself. She seemed really upset…

"Okay, kids. Go ahead and work on your projects," the teacher said with a smile. "Pick your partners and remember, have fun and work hard!"

Blaze rolled his eyes and looked back at Lila. Opening his mouth to say something, he was interrupted by his sister.

"I don't want to work on the project," she grumbled. "And I don't want to work with you."

Blaze frowned. "Jeez, what did _I_ do to _you?"_

"Shut up!" she hissed.

Blaze flinched. "Are…are you still upset about…Astro?"

"What do _you_ think?!" she snarled.

Blaze sank in his seat and frowned sadly. _I don't really understand why she's so upset… _he thought to himself as he glanced in her direction once more. Just then, an idea occurred to him, and he rose his hand.

"Yes, Blaze?" the teacher asked.

Lowering his hand, Blaze asked, "Could I use the restroom, please?"

The teacher nodded slightly, and Blaze took off from the room. Heading down the hall and _passing_ the bathrooms, he continued towards the supply closet where he and Lila found Astro at least twice before. _There's got to be something there that's causing Astro to act like this. Even Lila said there was something bad in that room, and I've been wanting to check it out ever since._

But when he pressed the button to open the door…it didn't open.

Blaze pressed his face up against the Plexiglas to look into the room. _Come on, you piece of junk!_ Blaze growled to himself, continuously pressing the button.

Yet the door still remained closed.

Scowling, Blaze pressed his face back up against the glass and looked around. There was nothing peculiar about the interior, although he did receive a strange feeling from the room. Something told him he should leave, but he was way too curious to leave his mission. Pressing the button on the door once more, it finally slid open. _Finally!_ Blaze shouted in his head.

Cautiously stepping inside the storage room, he looked around curiously. About a hundred boxes were still in the large closet, all rotting and full of dust. _Sheesh, now I can understand why this place was scheduled for demolition… _The feeling grew stronger, but he still ignored it.

Hesitantly, he continued forward until he was near the back of the closet. He saw what looked like a pale light. He blinked and it was gone.

_That was…strange…_ Blaze thought, blinking again and again to see if it would come back. Curious, he headed over to the box where he saw the pale glow come from, and looked inside. There was a container inside with a dark, black ball inside it. Blaze curled his hand into a fist, looked at it, and compared it to the ball. _Wow, it's almost as big as my hand…_ he thought. _I wonder what it is?_ Blaze reached down inside the box and grabbed the container from the box, bringing it out into the open and observing it.

It shocked him. Literally.

"Ow!" Blaze yelped, nearly dropping the container. He caught it just as it almost hit the ground. _What is with this black thing?!_

Blaze studied the black ball some more, looking at it at every angle. It was interesting to look at, because it was a dark gray with black swirls, and looking at the black swirls made Blaze think of shadows. It certainly had a strange pull to it.

_I wonder why the people that used to work here just left this thing in this box…_ Blaze thought, tipping the container upside down to see if it had any writing on it - which it didn't. _I better hold onto it, just in case._ And with that, Blaze hid the container in his hoodie and hurried out of the closet.

As soon as he got back to class, Lila scooted away from him. "There's a dark aura coming from you…"

Blaze glanced at Lila and swallowed nervously. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Lila scowled. "Take off the hoodie."

Blaze's eyes went off in every direction. "U-uh…no! I'm chilly."

"Misfortune will come to you until you take it off," Lila hissed.

Blaze protectively held onto his chest. "No! I'm not taking it off." Just then, rain began pounding onto the roof of the building.

Lila frowned. "You'll bring misfortune to us all."

"How?!" Blaze nearly shouted. "Because I won't take off my hoodie?!"

"Settle down, children," the teacher sighed, continuing on with her reading.

"It's something _in_ your hoodie! I don't know _what,_ but it wasn't there before!" Lila hissed.

"No!" Blaze hissed, pulling away from his sister.

"You look fat! I _know_ there's something in there, and I _will_ have it!" Lila hissed back, tugging on her brother.

"Get _off_ me!" Blaze shouted, jumping out of his seat. "God, you're such a brat!"

Lila's mouth hung open as Blaze continued. "I'm sick of your dumb cards, and I'm _sick_ of your stupid bratty attitude. Just _leave._ _Me._ _ALONE!"_

As soon as Blaze shouted the last few words, thunder rumbled directly overhead, shaking the entire building and scaring everyone but him. Frowning with hatred, Blaze scrambled from the room and ran down the hallway.

Lila scowled. First Astro was acting weird, and now her own brother… Something was very wrong about this.

And she was going to find out what.

* * *

**Author's Note:** :o Oh jeez, what's up with Blaze? He be angry guise. XDDD And Astro! He almost hurt a human! :o

Review! :3 Please?


	5. Dark Auras

**Author's Note:** XD And yet another chapter! You can thank Moonlightpheonix-xX for this cus she put so much timmmme and efforrrt into it XDDDDD (iz a joke). I'm warning you for some mild foul language. Anyway, enjoy!

P.S. Blaze is creepy .-. *shudders*

* * *

**Chapter 4:** **Dark Auras **

Astro remained there in the jail cell. He was laying down now, and he hadn't eaten his food at all. The guards were becoming worried because Tenma had told them that he still needed food and water, but he wasn't eating or drinking either. Astro lay facing the wall on the opposite side, his arm underneath his head and his eyes droopy.

_Are you tired?_ the voice cooed.

_Leave me alone,_ Astro muttered to the voice.

_Ah, but you are tired, are you not? When was the last time you slept?_

_Yesterday…_ Astro answered with a growl. _Now leave me alone, please._

The ringing in Astro's ear finally stopped. He had begun to get used to the ringing, because nearly every waking moment, the voice was there, talking to him and putting hateful thoughts in his mind. The silence was foreign to him now. He felt incomplete without the ringing he had grown so used to.

Astro sat up and glanced at the food the guards had given him. It looked gross and unappetizing, especially now since the cockroaches were crawling all over it. _I wonder why no one bothered to even chain me up…_ he thought to himself, laying his head back down. _If I'm such a threat to people, why did no one think of it?_

His eyes narrowed. _Because they're human,_ he thought to himself. His eyes widened as he just realized what he said. _Wait, no! That isn't me thinking! …Is it? _He sighed. _I'm such a failure…_

"Astro?"

Astro sat up quickly as he heard his father's voice. "Dad?" he called.

His father smiled as the guard opened the door. "It's time to go now, son."

Astro smiled, tears forming in his eyes. He hurried towards his father and embraced him in a big hug. His father bent down to embrace him at his level. Breaking apart after a few moments, Astro wiped the tears from his face. "How'd you get the money?"

"You can thank me for that," Dr. Elefun said from a few feet away.

"Dr. Elefun!" Astro laughed, running over to the stout man and embracing him in a hug as well. "Thank you!"

"Metro City's hero should not be locked up," Elefun said, smiling, repeating his father's earlier words.

Astro looked from Elefun to Tenma. "Thank you. Both of you. You don't know how much this means to me."

Tenma smiled and hugged his son, silently picking him up in his arms, and turned to Elefun. "Let's get going. We have a meeting to attend to."

Astro looked at his father. "What's the meeting for?" he asked.

Tenma looked to Elefun before answering. "We're going to discuss on how to get Metro City back into the air."

"Can I come?" Astro asked.

Tenma opened his mouth to answer, but Elefun beat him to it. "I don't quite think that's a very good idea, Astro," he replied as they left the building. "I don't think you would be very welcome there."

Astro frowned and looked back at his father. "I'm not a threat to anyone right now, though!"

His father sighed and let him go next to the car. "Well…I couldn't find anything wrong. Everything was in working order, and it was very strange. Although, we can't chance it again. I'm sorry, Astro."

Astro sighed and looked to the ground. _This brings back memories…_ he thought as he hopped in the backseat of Elefun's car. _Back to when my father denied me to go with him to watch the Peacekeeper be revealed… No that wasn't me… It was Toby…_

"Are you buckled in, Astro?" Elefun asked, buckling himself in.

Astro leaned to his right and grabbed the seatbelt, buckling himself in as well as the doctor started the car with his thumbprint on the dashboard.

_You deserve to go,_ the voice sneered.

The ringing was back, but Astro was unfazed by it. _I do… I'm the one who saved Metro City from crashing into the ground. I'm the one who saved all those people's lives, and this is the thanks I get? _he thought.

_Exactly! _Demand _they take you!_

Astro opened his mouth to demand that he be taken to the meeting, but his father interrupted him. "I'm going to drop you off back at school, alright, Astro?"

Closing his mouth with a faint snap, he crossed his arms and looked out the window. "Fine…" he muttered.

Tenma and Elefun both looked back at Astro through the rear-view mirror with concerned looks, but they didn't say anything.

_What are you doing?!_

_I won't risk it!_ Astro shouted at the voice. _I'm not risking something just so I can go to some dumb meeting!_

_Shouldn't you have a say in it? You're smarter than them…_

Astro's eyes faltered and they trained to the floor in front of him. _I… You're right…_

_I'm _always_ right!_

Astro began slowly zoning out, and his eyes were beginning to turn a dark gray. Tenma looked back in the mirror and noticed the color change. "Astro! Snap out of it, son!"

Astro shook his head rapidly and his eyes returned to normal. "Wha…?" he replied drowsily.

_Shit! Damn that doctor! Are you going to listen to someone who threw you out or are you going to listen to me?!_

_Stop it with the 'trash' comment! It won't work again!_ Astro shouted. _He's my father and I love him!_

"Astro, you alright back there?" Tenma asked, his eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine, Dad," Astro replied back, smiling.

_But he doesn't love you! He loved _Toby!_ You're a _replacement._ Why _else_ would you be here?!_

Astro frowned, and looked back out the window. Tenma saw this and his brow furrowed, but he left it be and turned back around.

The car arrived back at the makeshift school, and Elefun looked back at Astro through the mirror. "We're here, Astro."

Without a word, Astro hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut. Tenma stuck his head out the window. "I'm going to come back right after school ends in a few hours and pick you up. I expect you to be waiting, son."

Astro turned his head back to look at his father with a small smile. "Okay, Dad…" Turning back around, Astro hurried up the two sets of stairs and opened the front door. _I hope I don't get detention…_ Astro thought.

With troubling thoughts in his mind, Astro didn't even notice that the ringing was gone. Turning a corner and heading down another hall with his head down, he heard some very fast approaching footsteps. As soon as Astro glanced up, a red heap fell into him. Astro and the unknown person tumbled head over heels, and Astro landed on his stomach. "Ow…" Astro murmured, sitting up slightly and rubbing his head. He turned to his left to see Blaze lying on the ground on his side unmoving. _Oh, God! Did I hurt him?!_ Astro panicked. Hurrying over to Blaze, he checked him all over for any wounds or bruises. "Blaze, are you okay?"

Blaze groaned in response, his eyebrows scrunched together. Astro could tell he was in some type of pain. A faint glow emanated from underneath his friend's arm, and Astro lifted it slightly. Blaze tightened his grip around whatever he was holding and his eyes shot open, glaring at the boy robot.

"A-are you okay?" Astro asked.

"Shut up, I'm fine," Blaze hissed under his breath, shooting back to his feet and covering his chest. "Leave me alone!"

Astro watched as the boy ran off towards the direction of his locker, and was very confused. _Why was he acting so strange? And what did he have in his hands?_

_Hurt him,_ the voice hissed.

_What? Why would I hurt one of my friends?_ Astro snapped to the voice. _He didn't do anything wrong._

_That thing in his hand; take it from him. It's hurting him._

Astro frowned. _I thought you told me to hurt him? If I hurt him, wouldn't it be best to leave it there?_

_It's also hurting me._

_How is it hurting _you? Astro asked as thunder rumbled overhead. He hadn't even noticed the storm until now.

_It just is. Now _take it!_ Or I will make your life miserable!_

Astro flinched at the tone of the voice. It was never this authoritative before. Hesitantly obeying the voice, Astro began walking down the hall where Blaze vanished.

_Good boy!_

Astro ignored the comment and continued walking. Peeking around the corner and down the hall, Astro watched as Blaze stared at something in his hands that was glowing a dark black. It was also causing a dark halo to form around Blaze. _What the…?_

_GET IT FROM HIM!_ the voice screeched.

A screeching ring sounded in Astro's head, and he nearly toppled over while grabbing the sides of his head. OW! Astro shouted at it. _Okay! Okay!_ Astro began tiptoeing over to Blaze, trying to be as silent as he could. Blaze's dark aura grew and grew until it became more visible. The thing he was holding was also letting off a glow, spinning around in the container it was held in.

_Take it! Take it! Take it!_

Astro shot forward and grabbed a hold of the container. Blaze snapped out of his trance, but the dark aura was still surrounding him. "Give it!" Astro grunted as he pulled.

Blaze pulled back with the same amount of force. "NO! I found it! It's _MINE!"_

_Use your weapons!_ the voice said excitedly.

_I'm not using my weapons against him!_ Astro shouted at it. "Blaze, please! It's hurting you!" Astro growled.

"I said _NO!_ It's _MINE!"_ Blaze growled, his eyes turning dark gray.

Astro's eyes widened and he flinched, accidentally letting go of the container, and falling onto his back on the ground. Blaze stood perfectly still and smiled down at him with a creepy smile.

_TAKE IT FROM HIM! PLEASE!_ the voice screamed.

"Blaze, give me that container, _now!"_ Astro shouted.

Blaze cocked his head and continued to stare at Astro with a creepy smile. "But why would I do that? This makes me feel a lot better…"

_TAKE IT! _NOW!

Astro surged forward once more and grabbed for the container. A pulling fight ensued as robot played tug-of war with a human that was...acting _very_ strange. "Give it!" Astro shouted.

_"NEVER!"_ he hissed, his eyes burning with hatred.

_THAT'S IT!_ the voice shouted. _USE YOUR WEAPON ON HIM _NOW!

_No!_ Astro shouted. _I'll hurt Blaze!_

_It won't hurt him! Just trust me!_

Hesitantly, Astro let go of the container as Blaze stood his ground, his aura growing steadily darker, laughing darkly. Aiming his arm at his friend and changing it into an arm cannon, a single tear escaped from his eye. _I swear, if you're wrong… I won't hesitate to find you, wherever you are!_

_I'm closer than you think…_

Astro ignored the voice and powered up his cannon, more tears streaking down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, Blaze."

He fired his cannon, and Blaze flew backwards, dropping the object in his hands and rolling a few feet away from Astro.

Instantly, Astro hurried over to check on Blaze. His dark aura was now gone and his eyes were closed. Feeling his neck for a pulse, he was relieved to find that he still had one. Blaze didn't even have a scratch on him, which was very odd.

_Pick it up._

Sniffling and wiping the tears from his face, Astro turned to look at the container behind him. _Wow, what is that?_ he wondered, crawling up to the small container. Inside, it held a black orb about the size of Astro's fist with black swirls. It was still glowing.

_Please take it away from these people._

Astro gently picked it up. Staring into the orb and seeing his reflection, he hurried away from Blaze. _I'll come back later,_ he promised himself. _After I get this…thing…whatever it is, away from here…_

_…Thank you._

Astro ran down the hallways and out the door, immediately jumping into the air and heading towards his penthouse to put it away somewhere safe. Meanwhile, the voice was quiet.

* * *

Blaze slowly lifted his head. _What happened?_ he wondered, looking around. _And where did that thing go…?_ Grabbing his head, he groaned. _And why do I feel like I ran into a wall at least forty times?_

"My head hurts!" Blaze whined.

Rapid footsteps approached him, and Blaze looked up. Astro knelt down in front of him and held out his hands to look him over. "Are you okay? Anything broken? Do you feel okay?" he asked, bombarding him with a bunch of questions.

Blaze blinked. "My head hurts!"

Astro looked at Blaze's head, but shrugged. "Everything seems to be fine," he said to the boy. "You don't seem to be hurt at all… Are you _sure_ everything's okay other than your head hurting?"

Blaze looked away for a moment. _That ball is missing, and I wonder where it went… It couldn't have gotten up and walked away, now could it?_ Looking back up at Astro, Blaze shook his head. "Not that…I can think of."

Astro frowned, but shrugged. "Okay, let's get you—"

"Blaze! Are you okay?!"

Both Blaze and Astro looked up to see Lila and a few teachers running towards them. "I'm fine," Blaze muttered shyly.

Astro looked up at the three of them. "I found Blaze here, but he doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere but his head, like maybe a headache or something," Astro replied, standing up and brushing himself off.

Blaze looked at Astro suspiciously. _He seems to be…avoiding something… Could he maybe be hiding something…?_ Then another thought occurred to him. _Did he take my shadow ball?!_

Lila smiled. "The demonic aura is gone."

Both Blaze and Astro looked at Lila with confusion. "What demonic aura…?" Astro asked.

Blaze looked to Astro and blinked as he saw a look of both confusion and terror on his face. _See, now why would he be both terrified and confused at the same time…? Unless he _knows_ something!_ Blaze thought. Struggling to sit up, Astro turned and helped him up. Blaze smiled half-heartedly at the boy robot and turned to Mrs. Hammard, who was his fifth period teacher. "Did I…miss anything important?"

She shook her head. "No. We were just concerned for you was all."

"Speaking of concerned…" Lila began, placing her hands on her hips and glaring angrily at her brother. "What was that explosion noise that we heard earlier?"

Blaze rose an eyebrow in confusion. _Explosion noise?_ he wondered, looking to Astro. As soon as he did, however, he was surprised to see fear on his friend's face.

"Astro…?" Lila asked.

Astro looked back at Lila. "Wha…?" he replied, his eyes looking in every angle.

_He seems very…strange. He's _definitely_ hiding something, and I'll bet it's my ball!_ Blaze thought, frowning.

"I asked if you heard a noise…?" Lila said, motioning with her hand in a circle.

After a moment or two of silence, Astro shook his head rapidly. "Uh…n-no. Hey, guys, listen. I…have to get back to class." He began off towards his class at a running pace.

"Astro, wait!" Blaze called, but the robot was already down another hallway.

Lila yawned slightly. "I'll work with you on that project now!"

Blaze rose an eyebrow as he looked back at his sister. "Everyone's acting weird today…!" he muttered under his breath.

Lila grinned. "Exactly!"

Blaze just continued staring at his sister, before shaking his head and grabbing it. "Whatever…c-can we just…go?" His head was beginning to spin and his eyes were getting droopy. _What's…wrong with me?_

Lila saw this change in her brother, and her eyes grew concerned. "Wait…some of that aura… It's still surrounding you."

Blaze rose an eyebrow and tried looking back up at his sister, but failed. He fell to his knees, his hands out in front of him.

All three of the teachers all surrounded him, trying to help him back up.

Lila frowned, wanting to help. She hurried forward to help her brother, helping him to his feet. "Are you okay, Blaze?"

Blaze nodded slowly, his hand still plastered to his forehead. "Yeah…I think so." _What was that?_ he wondered as Lila helped him forward. _I felt like I was being drained of energy…_

She hugged him. "Whatever you picked up…don't touch it again."

Surprised by the hug, Blaze rose an eyebrow. _But it's mine!_ he whined to himself as the hug continued. _I found it first!_

Lila smiled. "It was draining you, I think. Like a vampire! But not like the Cullens, 'cause they're gay fairies."

Lila finally let go of her brother and continued helping him back to class. _Draining me?_ he asked himself. _How was it draining me…?_ Thinking back, he could only remember back to when he picked it up, and everything else was a blur. _Hmm… I did feel like I was drained just a minute ago…_

Lila yawned again. "Walking is boring."

"You got that right," Blaze muttered, his head low as he dragged his feet down the hall.

"Stop all this nonsense about draining and auras, children," Mr. Kemmar replied. He was Blaze's second period teacher.

Lila rolled her eyes. "If only they understood, huh, brother?"

Blaze snorted and smiled halfway. "Yeah, sure."

"They don't even understand how boring _their_ auras are." Lila grinned.

Blaze snickered. "Yes! Good one, sis," he whispered.

"Quit your whisperin'," Mrs. Hammard said.

"Yep. Boring," Lila replied, a bit too loud.

The teachers just simply ignored the siblings. _I want my ball back. That thing was pretty interesting…_ Blaze thought as they entered the room.

* * *

Astro entered his class and sighed, sitting in his desk. He placed his head on his hand and stared at the front of the room. The teacher was sitting in her chair, playing a game on her holopad.

A tap on his shoulder made Astro jump and freeze up instantly. He knew that touch.

"A little jumpy, Astro?" the girl giggled. "Never thought you to be the one who could be surprised."

Astro slowly turned around, coming face to face with Cora. He smiled up at her, hopped out of his chair and embraced her in a tight hug. Cora welcomed the hug as well. "Lila was right!" he murmured, pulling away and looking Cora in the eyes.

"Lila?" Cora echoed. "Who's Lila?"

"A friend of mine obsessed with tarot cards," Astro explained.

"Tarot cards? You mean those stupid little pieces of paper that 'tell all'?" she snorted.

Astro frowned. "Don't make fun of them or her, they're real and she's very nice."

Cora rose an eyebrow at Astro. "Something…about you seems…off…" she said, looking him up and down. "I just can't put my finger on it."

"Um…maybe it's because I found out I can take off my boots?"

Cora laughed and playfully punched his shoulder. "You're such a joker!"

Astro laughed, smiling. "No really. I can take them off."

Cora stopped laughing, causing Astro to stop as well. Then they started laughing again.

He blinked. "I, um… I missed you," he said shyly.

Cora smiled at Astro. "I missed ya too, buddy," she replied.

_No, she didn't._

Astro blinked. _You're back,_ he replied flatly.

_She didn't miss you. You can see it in her eyes! Just look at her! Does she _look_ like she missed you?_ the voice asked.

_Yes, she does,_ Astro shot back. "I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah, my parents thought it'd be good to put me back into school," she said, flipping her hair out of her eyes.

"Speaking of parents, what happened to everyone else? Zane, Widget, Sludge…" Astro asked.

_They died,_ the voice said flatly.

_Shut up!_ Astro shouted.

"They didn't leave Hamegg," she replied. "They're still there, because they didn't want to leave him alone, despite what he did to you."

Astro frowned. "Awwww… Will they be coming to school?"

_No. They're going to die painfully…_

_Shut your mouth! _Astro shouted.

Cora shook her head. "No, Hamegg doesn't have enough money to."

Astro frowned. "I'm sure Te—I mean, Dad could help."

Cora rose an eyebrow. "How so?"

_Good, she didn't catch your slip,_ the voice said.

"Well, I dunno. He could probably use some of the Ministry's funding…to help," Astro told her.

"But won't that mean he'll get fired?" Cora asked.

Astro's eyes widened. _Crap!_ "Uh…uh…" He sighed and looked at the ground, sitting in his desk once more. "I don't know… Maybe if he asked…?" Astro replied haltingly.

Cora frowned. "But he's the head of the Ministry. Won't President Logan fire him for that?"

"Not if they didn't know," Astro said.

_You're slipping up!_ the voice snarled.

"Astro!" Cora said, frowning more. "This is your _father_ we're talking about. Do you _want_ him to be fired from his job?"

Astro opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the teacher. "Okay, students. Time to have a seat." As everyone began to get situated at their desks, Ms. Web looked around the room. "Oh, it seems we have a new student!"

Cora looked away shyly. "Hi."

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Cora," she replied, still looking away.

"Well, good to have you here, Cora," Ms. Web said, smiling. Then, she turned her gaze onto Astro. "Oh, Astro! I heard about what happened at the Ministry. It's good to have you back."

Astro's eyes widened as everyone stared at him. Cora gave him a questioning look. Astro laughed nervously and quickly looked away from her. _Crap!_ he thought, stealing quick glances in her direction._ I don't want to tell her about what happened…!_

"Astro…" Cora said slowly. "What happened?"

Astro sighed and frowned. "I…I don't want to talk about it," he replied quietly, still looking away from her.

Cora sighed. She still seemed curious, but didn't want to push him.

_She doesn't care,_ the voice hissed.

_If she didn't care, why would she ask?_ Astro asked the voice, his face grumpy. He placed his head in the palm of his hand once more as he tried listening to the teacher's lesson.

_Maybe she wanted to laugh at your horrible mistakes!_

Frowning, he sighed, looking at the base of his desk. _Maybe… It wouldn't surprise me. She didn't accept who I was when _I_ was still trying to accept who I was._

_Hehehehe! Does anyone anymore?_

A single tear escaped from Astro's eye. _I don't know anymore…_ Suddenly, Astro began to feel very tired, and his eyes began to droop.

_Night, night!_ the voice said.

Astro's head plopped onto his desk and everything faded to black.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Oh noes! Not another cliffy! Muahaha, what'll happen next? Please review!


	6. Chaos

**Author's Note:** Moonlightpheonix-xX and I are so awesome. :3 We finish a chapter and immediately start another one, XDDDD More mild language in this chapter, so I warn you. Moonlightpheonix-xX - we'll just call her Moon - says that she hopes you enjoy our new chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Chaos**

Astro's eyes opened slowly and he groaned. _Ugh…what happened?_ he asked himself. Picking up his head, he noticed that his head was weighed down by something. He brought his hand around to see what it was, and he saw a piece of rubble from a building. Eyes wide, Astro felt like his chest was going to explode. _Oh, no… Oh, no…don't tell me…!_

Lifting his head further, Astro saw that part of the highway was destroyed, and Astro was laying in the middle of the street below the highway, ground into the pavement, pieces of rubble strung around him.

_Look what we did!_ the voice chuckled happily. Astro could practically hear its smile.

Slowly standing up, Astro held his head. It throbbed in pain from whatever had happened. _What did you make me do?!_ he shouted at the voice, looking back up at the highway. The middle of the highway looked like he had flown straight through it and landed onto the street below.

_What does it _look_ like I did?_

_You took over my body?!_ Astro yelled. _How did you do that?!_

_First of all, it's not your 'body'. It's a robot skeleton, and secondly…very easily actually,_ the voice said, laughing.

"Astro!"

Astro looked up towards the voice to see Blaze, Lila, and Cora running up to him. "Uh…" he murmured, looking for the right words.

"Are you okay?!" Cora asked, panicking. "You just passed out in class, and then a few minutes later you suddenly flew through the building and then we find you here!"

Astro's eyes were wide. _So _that's_ what happened!_ he thought. "Was I…sleeping?"

"Sort of," she answered. "You were kinda half-asleep, but it was like you weren't all there, if you catch my drift."

"The same bad aura that was following Blaze is following you, Astro," Lila said. "Whatever it is you're keeping from us, it's best to toss it away."

_Uh-oh… _Astro thought, swallowing nervously. "I don't have anything _to_ keep from you guys."

Lila raised an eyebrow. "Nothing? At all?"

Astro shook his head. "Nothing," he promised.

Sirens rang in the distance, and Astro's eyes widened. "No! I'm not going back to jail!"

"You were in _jail?!"_ all three of his friends shouted at the same time.

Astro looked from face to face. "Oops…"

Lila scowled. _"Nothing,_ huh?"

"Uh…sorry! Gotta go!" Astro said, jumping into the air and flying away from his friends. _I'm so stupid!_ he thought to himself. _Why do I always have to keep secrets?! First hiding my true identity from everyone back at the orphanage, and now this! I kept my jail time a secret!_ Looking back at his friends - who were like ants to him now - he hoped that they would forgive him.

Astro raced towards his penthouse...

* * *

"I can't _believe_ he would hide something _that_ serious!" Lila snapped.

Blaze sighed. "Calm down…"

"No! I will _not_ calm down!" Lila snapped again. "It's serious! He was in _jail!"_

Cora nodded, her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed. "Yeah, the least he could do was tell us. We would've forgave him."

"But what did he go in for, does anyone know?" Blaze wondered.

Lila scowled. "The teachers were saying it was for going Al Queda on the Ministry of Science or whatever it's called; his Dad's job. He attacked for no reason."

"Al Queda?" Cora echoed. "You mean like…a terrorist?"

Lila nodded. "Yeah. They mentioned it was pretty _explosive."_

"But why would Astro do that?" Cora asked.

"He has been acting very strange the past few days," Blaze answered. "I don't know what it is, but I have a weird feeling about it."

"And _I_ have the feeling it's something you and him already came into contact with," Lila said, glaring at Blaze. "Whatever it was that you picked up. _That's_ what's causing it."

"And how would you know this?" Blaze asked.

"Because the tarots said so!" Lila snapped. "Don't underestimate them!"

Cora rolled her eyes. "Tarots are fake, Lila."

Lila's eyes blazed as she looked the girl over. "No, they're not! They are portals to the otherworldly realm!"

The police sirens grew louder and louder until at least five hovering police helicopters flew past, their sirens blaring, heading towards Astro's penthouse.

"Shit!" Blaze shouted.

_"Blaze!"_ Lila whined. "No swearing!"

"No time for that," Cora replied. "We have to go see what's going on! Astro might be in trouble!"

Lila nodded. "The Tarots predicted this…"

_I hope he's gonna be okay,_ Blaze thought as they ran towards his penthouse.

* * *

Astro landed on the patio to his house, hurrying inside. _I have to get it away from here,_ he thought, running upstairs to his room.

_Quickly! Before it's too late!_ the voice exclaimed.

Astro burst through his door and crawled on the floor to look underneath his bed. The faint, dark glow of the ball in the container was still there, and he sighed in relief, picking it up in his arms. _I've got to get it to a better place… _he thought, looking around for a moment.

Astro's ears picked up on the distant - and growing closer - police sirens. Panicking, Astro quickly opened his window and flew away from the penthouse at his top speed.

_Haha, run, run as fast as you can! Or, fly in this case._

Astro ignored the voice and flew as fast as he could away from his home. The police sirens grew closer and Astro looked behind him, seeing the ant-like vehicles in the distance.

_Maybe you should have left it…_

_What? Why? _Astro asked._ And have the authorities find it, and take it?_

Yes… the voice said, sighing. Astro, I must tell you something. You see, I—

The voice was cut off as Astro was hit with a long, stringy green arm. "Ahh!" he shouted, looking back. His leg had been caught by the arm, and Astro grunted, pulling on it.

_Or don't listen to me…_

"I'm kinda busy here!" Astro shouted out loud, pulling on the green arm. As he freed himself from the first, another one latched onto his back. "Damn it!" he shouted.

_Just let them take you!_

_Why?!_ Astro shouted, struggling once more.

_Ugh, never mind!_ the voice shouted. _I'll just take over!_

_WHAT?!_ NO!

"Astro, you are under arrest!" a policeman replied from a megaphone.

Astro smiled. "Whatever you say, officer!" Astro's eyes quickly became dark gray, his jet flames turned black, and he smirked with glee. Twisting around quickly, Astro aimed his arms - changing into cannons - at the helicopters. A mildly loud explosion escaped from the cannon blast as he fired at them. He let out a maniacal laugh. "Whatever you say…!"

The helicopters swerved from the cannon blasts as Astro fired at them.

"Astro, halt! You are under arrest!" the officer repeated.

He grinned at the officer and aimed the cannons at him. One of the blasts hit the vehicle, and it exploded. But luckily for the pilot, he jumped out just in time to save himself. "Damn it!" Astro growled.

"Astro, watch your mouth!" the officer snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Astro shouted, aiming once more at the officer who was safely falling to the ground.

A green arm snapped forward and grabbed Astro's arm cannon, pulling it away from the man. The cannons fired, but it was at nothing, which made Astro angrier.

"Go to hell!" he snarled, firing his other arm cannon at the green arm.

The green arm exploded off from him, causing a shock wave to ripple along it and make the helicopter malfunction. The pilot jumped from the helicopter before it began to fall to the ground.

And then Astro shot at the pilot.

The parachute flapped in the wind as the pilot plummeted to his death. "Breaker, breaker! We have a 10-18 in progress, I repeat: Rogue robot!" Two officers raced after the man that was falling to his death.

Astro smirked and flew off. Racing through the skies at unnatural speeds, his black flames trailing behind him, Astro laughed coldly. _I feel so free!_ he thought, smirking. _I love what you've done with me._

_Yes, good boy,_ the voice laughed. _Soon, you shall get all the revenge that you need._ _All the respect you deserve… People may die, but they are just people. You are _better_ than them._

_"So_ much better!" Astro growled, his eyes burning with hatred. "I deserve their utmost respect! I deserve everything better than them!"

_Yes! And you deserve to actually be honored! Not some_ rogue robot! the voice sneered. _You shall get your revenge on everyone, and you _will_ be honored!_

"Ha…haha…HAHAHAHA!" Astro laughed as he raced through the sky.

_Go, my child! It's time to wreak havoc upon this city, and make it to your own image!_

Astro smirked, his smile both creepy and deadly at the same time. Hurrying back towards the city, the officers left far behind, Astro put on a facade and landed back where he took off from. Seeing that his three friends were nowhere in sight, he frowned. _Let's go find them, shall we?_ the voice asked.

"Yes…let's!" Astro growled, taking off once more, leaving behind a brand new hole in the street from his takeoff.

_And we shall make sure that they don't interfere!_

Astro smirked, flying straight to his penthouse, the orb's container still in his hoodie pocket. "They will not _dare_ interfere."

_And if they do…I can take care of that._

Speeding towards his home, Astro laughed to himself. "I'd _love_ to see that!"

Landing down in front of the penthouse, Astro broke open the door, ripping it right off its hinges.

"Astro!" Cora exclaimed, whipping around to face the robot.

Astro quickly changed his eye color, so as not to appear what he was. "Uhh…hi there."

"Why'd you rip the door off?" Lila asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Um… Maybe I don't know my own strength. And maybe it's none of your business," Astro replied.

Blaze rose an eyebrow. "Something's not right…"

Lila looked back at her brother. "No dip, Sherlock!" she hissed, looking back at Astro. "That dark aura…it's in his hoodie, and it's surrounding him!" She thought for a moment. "Anyone know any good exorcisms?"

Cora rose an eyebrow and looked back at Lila. "What are you talking about? Bad auras? _What's_ in his hoodie?"

Astro looked at the ground and sighed. "I can't believe you guys would think that I'm turning bad…" he murmured.

Blaze frowned. "We don't, okay? Lila is just being paranoid."

"But he _ripped off the door!"_ Lila shouted, pointing at the door with her hands.

Astro looked down at the door. _They've caught you red handed,_ the voice said. _Time to show them who's boss!_

Lila's eyes widened. "The aura is intensifying!" she shouted. "Get down!" Lila jumped back and pulled the two teens with her.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Astro shouted, a pure black halo exploding from his body. His eyes burned with a dark gray flame, and he laughed evilly, his voice somewhat distorted.

"Astro!" Cora cried. "Stop! This isn't you!"

"I feel so powerful!" Astro laughed, looking at himself, smiling with glee. "It feels so _wonderful!"_

Lila muttered a small, terrified prayer to herself.

"Astro, please! Remember all the good times we had together!" Cora shouted at the robot. "Remember when you saved the city from the Peacekeeper! When you saved everyone's lives!"

"I gave _my_ life for all of you! And the thanks I get is being locked up in jail?!" He smiled, laughing. "Well, I'll have you know, I'm _not_ doing _that_ again!"

Blaze looked at Astro's hoodie. Astro noticed this and took a small step back. Blaze advanced forward, crawling on his hands and knees somewhat cautiously.

Astro gave him a distasteful look, like Blaze wasn't human - just something he stepped on. "Uh… What are you doing?"

Blaze didn't answer. Instead he scrambled to his feet and ran at Astro. As soon as he collided with him, the dark aura spread over to Blaze. "I'm…getting…that…ball!" Blaze struggled out, his eyes squinted shut.

Astro pushed on Blaze's arms, but Blaze pushed back with the same amount of force.

_No!_ the voice shouted. _Get him away!_

Astro aimed a cannon arm at Blaze, but as soon as he fired, Lila grabbed Blaze's leg and tugged him so he fell backwards, beneath the beam.

The dark aura still surrounded Blaze as he hopped to his feet. His eyes were wide with anger, blazing the same dark gray that Astro's were.

Cora held her arms in front of her face, her eyes wide with terror. "What's wrong with Blaze?!" she screamed.

"Whatever Astro has in his hoodie, that's what!" Lila exclaimed, scowling.

Blaze tugged on Astro's hoodie with an excessive amount of force. Astro tried to pull the boy off of him, but he wouldn't budge. "Get off of me!" Astro growled, pushing at him.

Blaze eye began twitching. "That…orb…is _mine!"_

_Get him away from you!_ the voice screamed.

Astro got fed up with Blaze and kicked him where the sun don't shine.

"Ow!" Lila breathed, wincing.

But Blaze didn't even flinch, like he didn't feel it. "Give me…the orb!" he growled, his aura growing larger, outdoing Astro's.

"Oh, crap!" Lila shouted. "Somebody _DO SOMETHING!"_

Cora shot to her feet and ran at Astro and Blaze. Instead of trying to pull them apart, she reached into Astro's hoodie pocket, and pulled out the container while Astro was occupied.

Astro stared at Cora for a moment before his legs started to wobble. Both he and Blaze fell over onto the ground in a heap, their dark halos disappearing.

"Put it down," Lila pleaded. "Don't let it get to you!"

Cora quickly set it on the ground and threw her hands in the air, her eyes wide. "Why? What is it?"

"I dunno. It was making them act weird, though," Lila remarked.

Cora opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a bunch of police sirens. Looking out the door, she saw a bunch of police helicopters speeding towards the house. "Crap! What do we do?" she asked, beginning to panic, looking down at the unconscious duo.

"We wait and tell them what happened. Then we give them the orb for investigation," Lila replied calmly.

Sighing, Cora replied, "Okay."

_How _dare_ you?!_

Cora blinked. She thought she had heard a voice.

_You dare disrupt my plans! You will _pay _for this, you filthy human!_ the voice growled again.

Lila blinked. "Am I the only one who heard that or did you hear that?"

Cora looked back at Lila. "Like a voice?"

"Yeah! You heard it too?" Lila asked.

"Yeah," Cora said, nodding.

The police sirens grew closer and in a few moments, they were at the front door. Four officers came into the room and immediately grabbed Astro.

Lila picked up the orb and threw it at them quickly. The officer that it hit fell onto his back and dropped the robot boy. "Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his head. "Why'd you do that, you little brat?!"

"That's what's making him act strange."

"How so?" the officer asked, standing back up. All his colleagues behind him paused to listen to what Lila had to say, Astro in their arms.

"It was in the school. Astro went to the closet it was in and went all emo and crap! Then Blaze found it and started acting out. Then Astro took it, and then this."

The officer looked back at his fellow colleagues and nodded. All three of them dropped Astro. "Well, then, we'll just take _this_ and be on our way," said the officer, leaning down to pick it up.

"Take Astro, too. It seems to have long-term effects on robots." Lila replied.

Silently agreeing, the officers picked Astro back up and began back out the door. An officer slammed hand and leg-cuffs on the robot, and shoved him inside the helicopter.

Cora bit her lip and turned back to Lila. "Do you think we did the right thing?"

Lila bit her lip. "I'm not sure, Cora. I'm not sure at all…"

* * *

Astro groaned, slowly opening his eyes. The sight that greeted him was oddly familiar, and he blinked his eyes open all the way. He was in a darkly lit room, with walls made of concrete. A large steel gate was on the other side of the room, and the floor was littered with wet spots from the water drips on the ceiling. Astro's nose began to itch and he tried reaching for it, but his hand was quickly retracted back. Frowning, Astro looked at his arms. They were chained up on opposite sides of each other with a material he recognized as an unbreakable lightning chain. His legs were also bound by the chain.

He looked around frantically and considered calling out for help. "Hey!" he shouted. "What's going on?!" But he was greeted with silence. Tugging at the chains, his arms continued to retract back into their original positions, and Astro sighed. _I'm stuck here…_

He was so lonely… He wondered if the voice was still there. _Are you there? _he asked, but received no reply. Looking down at the ground, he sighed. _I'm all alone… I don't even know what…_ He broke off his thoughts as memories came surging forward. He had harmed police officers, and almost killed his friends. Tears began streaking down his face. _I'm a monster!_ he shouted to himself. _I don't deserve to live!_

He hung his head in defeat. Why did he do all of those things…? More tears began down his sleek, pure skin. _I was…taken over…_ he thought, sniffling. _They _have_ to believe me!_

Astro lifted his head. _Did Lila vouch for me? Did Blaze? Hopefully Cora did… Oh, God, what if _they_ threw me in here?! _Astro shook his head slightly. _Stop thinking like that, Astro! This isn't like you!_

He curled his hands into fists, the whites of his knuckles showing. _All the things that I did… I never meant to do any of it! _he cried. _They probably hate me now…_

A loud _clang_ snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked up suddenly, tears still streaking down his face. President Logan entered the room, his hands behind his back, followed closely by five soldiers.

Astro flinched and lowered his head. "H-hello, Mr. President…Sir…"

"Greetings, Astro Boy," Logan began, pausing in a few feet in front of Astro.

Astro looked away as his 'superhero' name was said.

"Do you know why you're here?" Logan began once more.

Astro looked up and slowly shook his head side to side. "No…Sir, I don't."

Logan smiled and looked down. "Well, I might as well tell you, right?" He chuckled a little. "Since you've been causing so much destruction to my city, I have no choice but to chain you up down here for a long time, son."

"You can't do that!" Astro said sadly. "What if the city needs me?!"

"Oh, I assure you. The city won't need you. I'll just have Tenma make another robot model, and you'll stay down here until you rot," Logan said.

Astro's eyes widened as he continued. "If you even _think_ about escaping, I will personally hunt you down and shut you down myself."

Astro gaped at him. "Wait… You'd rather _replace_ me than help me?"

"How could I help you? How could _anyone? _You're the one who's malfunctioning without any problems in your wiring," Logan replied with a shrug.

"You could get Dad to rebuild me…!" Astro suggested.

Another loud _clang_ sounded and Astro looked towards the door. His father stepped into the room, his head down and his hands at his sides. "Dad! Tell them there's nothing wrong with me! I'm completely fine, aren't I?!"

His father looked up at his robot son with sad eyes. "There _is_ something wrong with you, Astro. It's not in your wiring or programming; it's here," he said, pointing at his heart.

Astro frowned and looked down at his chest. "My…my Core?" he asked, his lip trembling.

His father came up to Astro and slowly opened the compartment that held the Blue Core. Astro looked down at it and saw that there were little amounts of black swirling around, and his Core looked like it was glitching.

"H-how did that happen?" Astro asked.

"The orb that your friends gave to us gave off the same energy that you had been giving off before you were captive here," his father explained. "It also has the same energy that a Core gives off."

Astro furrowed his brow. "S-so, you're saying…that orb is a…_Core?"_ Astro asked.

Tenma nodded. "Yes, in fact, Elefun told me the whole story. During his experiments to make the first two Cores, he had made a dud - or so he thought. He had thrown it out, but apparently, it had found its way back."

"Wha…? How?" Astro asked.

"Apparently, the abandoned soda factory that your school was moved to had its connections with the junkies on the Surface," Tenma replied. "And one of those junkies just happened to come across the Core, and gave it to a scientist that was working under cover as a factory worker. Why he was working under cover, no one knows."

Astro replied as soon as his father shut his compartment. "So you're saying…that with this other Core…in my Core…I'm still…a threat?"

"Yes," Logan replied. "And until _Daddy_ here can extract that little bit of Core from yours, you're staying here."

Astro frowned. "You don't have to patronize me."

Logan laughed, his bimbo laugh echoing off the walls of the large jail cell. "Well, until then, Astro Boy!" And with a wave and another laugh, Logan and his guards began out of the cell.

Astro looked at his father with sad eyes. "Please, Dad…" he whispered. "Please get me out of here! I don't belong here… Please!"

His father turned his head and looked away from Astro. "Sorry, Astro. I will come back as soon as I get permission to. And I promise I'll get that Core out of yours."

Astro lowered his head. "Okay, Dad…"

As his father left the cell and the door closed with another loud _clang,_ Astro sighed to himself, a few more tears escaping from his eyes. _I'm a failure…_

_Such a failure…_

* * *

**Author's Note:** The ending of this chapter makes me wanna cry. ;n; So sad. Anyway, I had one of my friends on dA make the cover for this story, and you can find it up there in the description box, cus it's right next to it. XDDDD Anyway, another chapter will be up probably two days from now. I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review!


	7. Power Down

**Author's Note:** Hey, guys! Sorry for the little wait. This chapter took a little thought in it! But anyway, I think you'll like this chapter a lot. :333 Minor profanity warning! Oh, and also, if you want, I drew a scene from the last chapter on my dA account, so just go to my profile and click on the link provided. :33 Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Power Down**

Tenma looked down at the 'dud' core on the table. He and Elefun were investigating it… He looked to his left. Dr. Leroy and several other scientists were with him as well. "Hand me the Tezamu Laser," he ordered. Dr. Leroy did as he asked and handed him the Tezamu Laser.

Tenma leaned in towards the Core in an experimental container, pulling the laser with him. Tenma had asked every scientist that was with him to wear goggles, as he wasn't sure whether or not they would need them. Tenma pressed a small button on the side of the Tezamu Laser and the laser fired at the Core.

After a few attempts, Tenma gave up. The laser did nothing to the Core. Handing the laser to Elefun to put somewhere else, Tenma turned back to Leroy.

Leroy frowned. "We can't get rid of it! Oh dear, what are we gonna do?"

Tenma sighed. "Leroy, relax. It can't harm us." Swallowing nervously, he turned back to the Core, his hand stretched back towards Leroy. "Hand me the purification pump."

He searched around the lab for it. There it was, the purification pump! He handed it to Tenma.

Tenma turned it on. "If this doesn't work, then I don't think anything will." Placing the pump in front of the 'dud' Core, Tenma and his colleagues waited. After a few seconds, nothing happened.

Leroy became jittery. "What do we do? What do we do? It can't die!"

"Leroy, calm down!" Tenma nearly shouted at the man.

"Tenma," Elefun began, and Tenma turned to the doctor. "Couldn't we just put it in a containment unit, where it can't disturb the peace?"

"I suppose," Tenma replied. Then he blinked. "Wait… Are you talking about what I _think_ you're talking about?"

Elefun nodded. "Sub-level zero, yes."

"That's where all the other bad stuff goes, right?" Leroy asked.

Tenma turned to the man - nearly forgetting that he was just a rookie. "Yes, Leroy."

"Even the Red Core fragment that was left over? A-and the Peacekeeper pieces?"

Tenma sighed. "Yes."

"Even the—"

"Yes, Leroy!" Leroy flinched back from Tenma, while he turned to Elefun. "Will I take it, or will you?"

Elefun shrugged. "I guess I will, since I'm the one who created this mess in the first place. Meanwhile, you try and figure out a way to get this...what shall we call it…?"

"Sh-shadow C-Core?" Leroy stammered.

"That's actually a pretty nice name," Tenma said, nodding.

"Yes," Elefun agreed. "And you will figure out how to get this Shadow Core out of Astro's Blue Core," he continued.

Tenma nodded. "Any ideas on how?"

Elefun sighed and looked at the ground. "Well the methods I have in mind would _harm_ the boy. But no one wants that…" He tapped on his chin for a moment, before adding in, "I think we have no other choice than to take his Core _out_ and suck the Shadow Core out manually."

"And if we accidentally suck the Blue Core with it?" Tenma asked, his eyes narrowed at his friend. "What would we do if that happened, hmm?"

Elefun sighed. "I don't know, Tenma. You'll just have to figure that one out by yourself."

Tenma frowned. "What if he…died?"

Elefun looked at the ground, and then at the Shadow Core, spinning around in the small containment box. "I don't know."

The silence was so thick, you could cut it with a butter knife. Tenma broke the dreaded silence. "Well, what're you waiting for?" he snapped at the other three scientists. "Get going already! Get sub-level zero ready for its arrival!"

Leroy's eyes widened, but he turned and hurried out of the lab, followed by the other two that were with him.

"Be careful, Elefun," Tenma murmured without turning back to look at him. Hearing the containment box opening and closing, he turned his head slowly.

Elefun held onto the Shadow Core, his hands in protective gloves. "I will. _You_ be careful as well, Bill," he murmured back, using Tenma's first name.

With a slight nod from Tenma, Elefun began out the laboratory doors.

* * *

Astro waited, bored in the cell. No voice, no visitors. It was lonely… He tried once more to pull on the lightning chains, but to no avail. They wouldn't break at all. Suddenly, a slight light filled the room, and Astro turned his head both ways to try and see behind him. He hadn't realized that there was a window behind him, because it had been nighttime when he was brought there.

_I suppose that will be the only view of the outside I'll see for a long time… _he thought as the sunlight broke through the gloom of the large prison room. It felt good on his back, bringing warm feelings to his mind. He thought of Blaze, Lila, and Cora, wondering if they were alright. _Especially Blaze, _he thought. _Last time I saw him was when he was trying to get the…Core…back from me… _He frowned. _I wonder why the voice didn't like him touching it… Unless…_ He broke off, his eyes somewhat widening. _Unless…the voice…_is_ the Core!_

The thought terrified him, and he accidentally cried out. "AHHH!" he shouted, struggling in his captivity once more, whipping his limbs around every which way. "I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO AN EVIL CORE?!" he yelled.

"Pipe down in there!" a guard shouted from the door.

Eyes wide with terror, Astro stopped what he was doing and panted for breath. _Why did I listen to it?! I should've known it was evil the first time it made me like this! It made me believe that I was all alone… It made me _cuss!_ Why did I listen to it?!_ He broke off and blinked. _It was very convincing, that's why… _He sighed again, and looked at the ground. Very _convincing…_

He perked up when he heard the door open. "Astro?" The voice was Tenma's.

"Dad!" he nearly shouted, straining at his chains once more. "Please tell me you've come to get me out. Please tell me that!" A few guards came into the room, and Astro's eyes widened as Tenma's eyes lit up with sadness. He swallowed nervously. "D-Dad?"

"I've come to take the Shadow Core out of yours, son," he replied.

"Sh-Shadow Core?" Astro echoed curiously. "Wh-what—?" He broke off as the guards unlocked the chains and Astro dropped to the ground, landing on his hands and knees with a slight 'Oof'. Scrambling to his feet, he hurried over to his father. "How?" he asked. "How are you planning on…getting the Shadow Core out?"

"We are going to remove your Core, and then vacuum it out," Tenma replied.

Astro's eyes widened. "B-but—" He broke off as the guards took hold of both of his arms and picked him up off the ground. "Dad! No!"

Tenma looked to the floor beneath his feet with sadness. "This is what's needed to be done, Astro," he said.

"But it might take out my Blue Core's essence too!" Astro said, being dragged towards the door and looking back at his father, who slowly made his way after them.

"I know…" he murmured.

Astro's mouth dropped open. _He… What _if_ I don't make it? He won't even care! _He hung his head. _The Shadow Core was right…_

* * *

The guards went with Astro all the way back to the Ministry. Pushing him inside the lab and shutting the large doors, Astro looked up at his father with pleading eyes. His hands had been handcuffed and he felt completely uncomfortable with his situation. "Please, Dad… Don't shut me off again…"

Tenma pushed Astro forward - a little forcefully. "It has to be done. Do you want the Core out, or not?"

"I-I guess…" Astro whimpered.

Tenma walked around the table to grab a tool from one of the other smaller tables. Astro hopped up onto the table and sighed. _Déjà vu…_ he thought to himself as he father came around the table. Opening up the compartment, Tenma - without a second thought - removed his glitching Core.

Astro's eyes drooped and his head rolled to the side. "I love you, Dad…" The last thing he saw before he powered off was his father holding the Blue Core in his hand. And then…

_**Black.**_

* * *

"Blaze!" Lila snapped, smacking the teen's face. "Blaze!" she snapped again.

"Uh…maybe you shouldn't slap him like that…?" Cora said, looking scared.

"Uh…maybe I _should!"_

Cora's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms. "What if he wakes up and slaps _you?"_

"Then I kick his butt!" Lila snapped, slapping him again before shaking him. "BLAZE! WAKE! UP!"

Blaze's eyes slowly opened, and then they opened fully. "Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh!" Blaze groaned as he was shaken back and forth.

Cora winced. "Uhh…I think he's awake now."

Lila paused her shaking, and looked down at her brother. He blinked his eyes open and closed repeatedly, trying to adjust to the non-shakiness. She slapped him again just for the heck of it.

Blaze brought his hand to his face, frowning in anger. "Ow! What the frick was that for?!" he whined.

"Stop whining, you baby," Lila snapped. Then, she smiled. "Besides, I was slapping you while you were unconscious. Slapping you while you're _awake_ is _much_ better!"

Blaze scowled at his sister, continuing to rub his face where she had slapped him. Then, he turned his head to the right and realized that the place was a mess. The door had been broken off its hinges, and there was a large hole across the room, showing the darkening sky in the distance. "Uh…_what_ happened?"

"You and Astro had a fight," Lila said flatly.

Blaze's eyes widened and he looked up at his sister. "Uh…'scuse me? Did you just say Astro and I had a…_fight?"_

Lila rolled her eyes. "Yes! Do I have to spell it out for you?!"

"N-no…" Blaze muttered.

"The orb was taking you over, too," Cora said, her blue eyes concerned. "Do you feel weird? Is everything alright?"

"Uh…yeah, other than my face hurting, I'm fine," Blaze replied, shooting his sister with another look.

"Want me to punch you next time?" Lila grinned.

"Do _that_ and you're dead," Blaze growled. Lila looked taken aback for a moment, before Blaze frowned, raising his eyebrow. "What?" he asked, looking from his sister to Cora.

Cora shrugged. "I guess she's just surprised by the tone of voice you answered her with."

"Yeah, no duh," Lila snapped. "You know, Blaze, I warned you that you'd bring misfortune to us all. _Never_ underestimate the tarots!"

Blaze looked around once more. "Uh…where's Astro?"

Lila and Cora looked at each other worriedly.

When they didn't answer, Blaze frowned, raising his eyebrow again. "Guys…" he began slowly. "Where's Astro…?"

Lila bit her lip. "He was…arrested…"

_"What?!"_ Blaze nearly shouted. The loudness of his voice made his head spin, and he grabbed it to make it stop. "What do you mean?!" Then, before anyone could answer, Blaze suddenly remembered. "Oh…" he murmured, looking down and dropping his hands to his sides. "He almost hurt some people."

"Yeah! _US!"_ Lila shouted, waving her arms in the air. "Do you not see the cannon hole in the wall over there?" She pointed at the smoking hole in the wall.

Blaze blinked. "Oh."

"Idiot," Lila muttered.

Ignoring Lila's comment, Blaze struggled to his feet. When both Lila and Cora moved to help him up, he shrugged them off. "I can get up by myself," he muttered. Looking out the door at the darkness that was slowly swallowing the sunlight, he sighed. _I hope Astro's okay,_ he thought.

Lila huffed. "So touchy."

A car pulled up in front of the penthouse, landing in front of the door. Blaze, Lila, and Cora blinked as Astro's father stepped out, followed quickly by their house robot, Orrin.

"Oh, dear!" Orrin breathed as his eyes lay on the sight in front of him. "What happened here?"

Tenma looked up and saw the three children standing in his home, but he seemed unfazed by it. "I take it you're Astro's friends," he said, walking past them and inside his home. After a moment, Orrin hurriedly rolled inside.

Lila turned to the man. He was observing the scene that the penthouse lobby was in. It was abandoned after the people that were residing in it heard about what Astro did to the Ministry, and they had quickly took their leave.

"Astro and—" Lila began, but was interrupted by Tenma.

"I know what happened," he replied gruffly. "Astro went berserk because of a strange orb, right?"

Blaze's eyes widened and he stepped forward. "I did too, Sir. I guess that once I come into contact with the thing, it makes me act just like Astro."

Tenma seemed intrigued by this. "Hmm…that's very strange," he murmured, scratching his chin. "Maybe because you've been in close contact with the robot?" he guessed, but shrugged, turning towards the elevator with Orrin following close behind. "Farewell, children."

Lila's mouth hung open once Tenma and Orrin disappeared up the elevator. "What a jerk!" she hissed.

Blaze blinked. _It seemed like he didn't care at all,_ he thought to himself.

Lila scowled. "Asshole."

"No swearing." Blaze replied. "I'm sure he's a good man inside. I think…"

"Yeah, whatever," Lila hissed, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Lila," Blaze began, holding out his hand. "We need to get back home."

Hesitantly, Lila grabbed Blaze's hand, and he began pulling her out of the penthouse. Cora stood there, her eyes trained to where Tenma had disappeared. Then after a moment or two, she began out the door after the two siblings.

"I hope Astro's okay," Cora sighed once they were outside.

Lila sighed. "So do I."

Hurrying home, Blaze and Lila appeared at their front door. It was another penthouse like Astro's, only this one wasn't abandoned. Blaze turned to Cora. "Well, I guess we'll see you at school on Monday," he said.

She smiled. "Actually, maybe we could meet up again tomorrow?"

Blaze shrugged after a moment. "Oh, okay. Where?"

Her smile grew. "Well, I was thinking here."

"Why?" Lila asked.

"I live in the same penthouse you do," she replied.

"Oh!" Blaze laughed. "I didn't know that."

Lila huffed. "Blaze, no flirting!"

Blaze shot a glance in Lila's direction. "I'm not flirting with Cora! I have a girlfriend…!" Despite this, Blaze began blushing violently, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Didn't you two break up?" Lila asked.

"No!" Blaze huffed, looking away. An awkward silence ensued, and Blaze sighed. "Fine, yes. I broke up with her…"

"I _knew_ it! The Tarots predicted that!" Lila exclaimed. "In your _face!"_

Blaze looked away, blushing and grumbling to himself.

Cora laughed, her eyes dancing in the moonlight. "Well, shall we go inside?"

"Of course!" Lila grinned.

Cora went inside first, followed closely by Lila. Blaze turned, realizing he was being left alone, and hurried inside. "Hey!" he shouted after them.

Lila and Cora ran away from him, laughing. "Try and catch up, loser!" Lila sneered, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Blaze laughed and raced after them.

* * *

The next morning, Blaze awoke with a yawn. Blinking open his eyes, he stretched his arms clear to the sky. Blaze glanced at the clock, and realizing that it was 11 AM, he shot to his feet and whipped off the covers. _Crap!_ he thought, hurrying to put on his clothes. _Why didn't Lila wake me up?! _After brushing his teeth, Blaze passed by Lila's room, seeing that her and Cora were still asleep, as well.

Cora had spent the night after convincing her mother and father that both Blaze and Lila were friends of hers. Blaze rolled his eyes and knocked on the door. "Pssst! Lila! Cora, wake up!"

Lila sat up groggily and threw a pillow at him.

Blaze quickly dodged the pillow. "Come on, guys! It's almost 11:30!" he hissed.

Lila leaned over and poked at Cora. "Hey, dude," she said groggily. "It's time to get up."

Cora sat up abruptly, her eyes wide. "What happened?!"

Blaze stared at Cora, frightened. _What the frick?_ he thought.

Lila placed her hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, Cora. We're just waking you up for the meeting." Lila smiled. "You know…with Astro! I ship you two."

Cora blushed, getting up from the bed. "It's…not that way. Trust me," she said, laughing slightly.

Blaze rose an eyebrow as she ran a brush through her black and purple hair. _She's lying,_ he thought, smiling with his arms crossed. _She likes him._

Lila grinned. "Suuuuuuuuure!"

Cora chuckled to herself and rolled her eyes. "I guess beggars can't be choosers, huh?"

Blaze smiled as Cora headed into Lila's bathroom to brush her teeth.

Lila smiled. "What day is it?"

Blaze glanced at Lila. "It's Saturday, duh!"

"Oh yeah…" Lila replied dreamily.

Face-palming, Blaze turned to look as Cora returned from the bathroom. Lila got up to use the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Cora looked at Blaze and smiled. He blinked and swallowed, scratching the back of his head nervously. _Awkward…_ he thought. "So…" Blaze said, looking away from Cora's eyes.

"So…" Cora echoed.

An awkward silence ensued, and after a few moments, Lila shouted through the door, "BLAZE! THERE'S NO TOILET PAPER!"

Almost instantly, both Cora and Blaze burst out laughing. Blaze fell to the ground holding his stomach, and Cora was bent over laughing. Blaze wiped a tear from his eye and stood back up, the laughter dying down. "It's in the cupboard, stupid," he replied, panting.

"No it's not—oh, there it is. Thanks!" she answered.

"That was awkward," Cora snickered.

"Yeah, I know!" Blaze chuckled. "Anyway…" He paused and looked at the clock on Lila's nightstand; it read 11:25 AM. He turned back to look at Cora as Lila appeared out from the bathroom. "I think it's time for the meeting."

"Oh, so soon? I haven't done today's tarots…!" Lila whined.

Blaze rolled his eyes and grabbed his sister's hand, tugging her out of the room. "Blaaaaaaaaze! Nooooooooooo!" she whined.

"The meeting is at 11:30! Or do you not remember what we discussed before we went to bed last night?" Blaze asked her, looking back.

"I remember, but still," Lila whimpered.

Cora came up behind us, her arms crossed over her chest. "We're having the meeting in your living room, correct?"

Blaze nodded, looking back at her. "Yeah, and my parents are already gone to work, so we have the apartment all to ourselves!"

"…I'll get the tarots!" Lila exclaimed.

Lila began off back to her room. Blaze grabbed after her, but she was already out of his reach. _Dang it!_ he thought to himself.

Cora raised an eyebrow. "What's with her and tarots?"

Blaze shrugged, plopping down onto the couch. "She looked online one day, discovered them, ordered them from a catalog, and _viola!_ She's obsessed."

"I heard that!" Lila called from her room.

Blaze stuck out his tongue in her direction, and turned back to Cora. "So yeah, that's why."

"Hmm," Cora hummed, laughing a little. "I think it's nice she has a hobby, but don't you think tarots are…I don't know…a little strange?"

"Yes!" Blaze replied, groaning and rolling his eyes. "Exactly."

"Hey!" Lila huffed, walking back from the hallway with her tarots.

Groaning, Blaze leaned his head back on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "Here we go…"

"Don't be judgin'," Lila replied gruffly, sitting down on the other couch on the other side of the table. She looked up at Cora and smiled, pointing to the seat next to Blaze. "Don't be shy. Have a seat!"

Cora obeyed, sitting down on the couch and crossing her legs.

Lila spread her cards. "First, Cora, I'm going to give you a standard 6-card reading." The cards that Cora received were The Lovers, The Sun, The High Priestess, The Hanged Man, Justice, and Judgment.

Cora rose an eyebrow and looked at the cards laid out in front of her on the table.

"Ah, it seems you have a love for someone blessed by God himself! It will be successful, I think. This one says to trust your gut feeling. You will soon learn a lesson and Justice will soon fall upon those who have wronged us. And Judgment… That's a tricky one. Some sort of union, perhaps?"

"Oh…okay, then," Cora said, blinking.

Blaze rolled his eyes. "I thought we were supposed to be having a meeting about Astro, not reading your dumb tarot cards, Lila."

"Hey, at least I don't get 'The Fool' in all of _MY_ tarot readings! …Fool!" Lila retorted.

"Hey!" Blaze whined, slumping on the couch with his arms crossed. "That was confidential…!"

"So you _DO_ believe in the tarots!" Lila cackled.

He looked away with a huff. "Still…!" he whined.

Cora giggled softly. "That has to be hard for someone to get The Fool every time."

Blaze's face lit up a bright red, and both Cora and Lila giggled at him. "Idiot," Lila laughed.

"Urrrg! Come on, we have to get the meeting about Astro started!" Blaze repeated.

"Oh! Oh! I could try to do Astro's tarots!" Lila offered.

"How?" Blaze asked. "Isn't he, like…in prison? You know, far away from here?"

"Well, if you'd let me _concentrate!"_ Lila hissed.

Blaze rolled his eyes, but didn't say another word. Watching intently as Lila closed her eyes, scrunching her eyebrows together, she spread the cards. Opening her eyes, she gasped and covered her mouth.

"No, that can't be right!" she exclaimed, shuffling them again and laying them once more. "No, no, no, no! Impossible!"

Blaze rose an eyebrow. "What? What's going on?"

She laid them out again and stared, horrified. Every card…was Death. "This can't be right!" she shouted. "Every single card is Death!"

"You totally stacked the deck," Blaze muttered, crossing his arms.

Cora just looked horrified. "What does it mean…Death?"

"No!" Lila hissed. "It's impossible." Looking up at Cora and Blaze, she added, "There's only _one_ Death card per deck!" She hid her face. "Blaze… Please check to see if the other cards are okay…"

Blaze rolled his eyes. "Fine! I'll _check_ the cards!" Getting up from the couch, he picked up all the cards and threw them on the floor.

"Blaze! What're you doing?!" Lila shouted, getting up from her couch.

Ignoring his sister, Blaze leaned down on the ground and started flipping over every single individual card. Once finished, Lila's eyes grew even wider. "AHHH!" she screamed.

They were all Death.

"What…does this _mean?!"_ Lila whispered.

Blaze's eyes softened and he looked at the cards on the ground. "I think something bad happened to Astro, guys… And I have the feeling Dr. Tenma will know what that _something_ is."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Oh nooooooo! Cliffehh! Anyway, XDDDDDD I hope you liked this chapter. And what the heck made all the tarot cards in the deck be all the same card? O_O SUPERNATURAL FORCES BE AT PLAY GUISE.

Review! :3


	8. Glitch

**Author's Note:** I am sorry for the long wait! But this chapter, I promise you, will be worth the wait! Warnings of foul language, yadayadayada... And evilness! EVILLL!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Glitch**

Hurrying back to Tenma's penthouse, Blaze frowned. _I knew he was acting strange yesterday!_

Lila was trailing behind him; the image of the cards still unnerved her. Looking back at his sister and his new friend, Blaze sighed. _I hope we can find out what happened to Astro…_

Lila sighed. "I'm scared."

"It's okay," Blaze assured her as they came around the bend and towards the long driveway that led to Tenma's penthouse. "You'll be fine."

"I'm not worried about _me,_ idiot," Lila replied. "I'm worried about _Astro."_

"Me too," Cora said, her eyes beginning to water.

Lila frowned and hugged her. "Awwww, don't cry!"

As they neared the door, Blaze noticed that it was still ripped off its hinges. _Strange, you would've thought they put it back on by now…?_

Lila took one look at the door. "I am done."

Turning around, Blaze saw Lila beginning to hurry away. "Lila, where are you going? Wait!"

"If the door is still gone, then there is a good chance Tenma ain't there," Lila replied. "I'm going to the Ministry."

Exchanging a quick glance with Cora, the two of them hurried off towards the tall building in the distance. "I hate walking…" he muttered to himself.

"Wait…" Lila bit her lip. "He might be at the school…"

"What? Why?" Blaze asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno… Getting info from classmates, maybe? I dunno. He's probably there…"

"But why would he be at the school if we think there's something wrong with Astro?" Cora asked. "I mean, with all due respect, I think that he'd be at the Ministry, don't you?"

Lila pointed at Blaze. "Your stupid is affecting me."

Blaze groaned, rolling his eyes. _"I'm_ not the stupid one."

"Quit fighting, you two. Jeez. Blaze, you're the same age as me, so quit acting like a baby," Cora said, sending a glare in his direction.

Blaze seemed to shrink under her glare. "S-sorry…" he murmured, looking away.

Lila snickered at that. "You, too!" Cora snapped. Lila slumped in defeat.

A few more minutes passed and the Ministry loomed in front of them. Blaze looked to both Lila and Cora with determination. They both nodded in response. _This is it,_ he told himself as he took a deep breath and began towards the door. _We find out what happened today._

"Wait!" Lila shouted. "We have to be dramatic about it!"

Raising an eyebrow, Blaze looked at his sister. "What," he said flatly.

"We have to be epic, you know! When we go in, it _has_ to be dramatic!" Lila chimed.

Blaze sent a glance in Cora's direction, but she just shrugged. He sighed. "Fine…! We'll be _dramatic."_

"Yay!" Lila exclaimed.

Rolling his eyes, he sighed again. "Alright, on the count of three, we burst in the doors. Ready?" When both of them nodded, he smirked, continuing. "One…two…THREE!" he shouted, and they burst forward. Blaze whipped the doors open. "What have you done with—" Looking around, he noticed that there was no one inside. "…Astro…?" he finished.

"Fail," Lila laughed.

Blaze face-palmed and turned to Lila. "Well, so much for _that_ dramatic entrance!" he muttered.

"Well, at least we didn't embarrass ourselves! Just think about what would have happened if people were actually here!" she chuckled, looking off thoughtfully as if there was a thought bubble above her shoulder. Blaze slapped her shoulder. "Ow!" Lila hissed, glaring and rubbing her shoulder.

"Now's not the time," Blaze replied. "We have to find out what floor Tenma should be on." Leaving them behind, he ran over to a plaque on the wall with the names of workers and what floors they worked on. "…Okay! Got it! Tenma's on the eleventh floor!"

Lila and Cora ran up from behind. "I have a bad feeling about this…" Cora sighed, biting her lip.

Lila shook her head. "The cards were bad… Something bad will happen."

Ignoring his sister's comment, Blaze pressed the button on the elevator. Once all three of them stepped inside, the elevator flew upwards quickly. The doors opening, Blaze, Cora, and Lila stepped out and looked around. It was quiet, but all the same, it was a little _too_ quiet.

Lila was shaking. A breeze flew in from the window and closed a closet. It closed with a loud slam, making Lila shriek, "GHOSTS!"

"There are _no such things!"_ Blaze said, rolling his eyes. "And would you _please_ be quiet?!"

"Sorry…!" she whispered, still trembling.

Blaze didn't want to show it openly, but he was a little scared himself. Something about this place gave him the creeps. Walking forward slowly - followed closely by Lila and Cora - he continued glancing in every direction, as if expecting something to pop out at him like in those stupid scary videos on YouTube that Lila always used to scare him with.

Another loud noise was heard and Lila latched onto her brother, her teeth chattering. Blaze pushed her off of him with a huff, and Lila landed on her butt on the floor. "OW!" Lila hissed, quickly getting back on her feet.

"Don't ever do that again," he growled.

She shrunk a bit. "S-sorry…"

Cora glared in his direction. "Cut her some slack, will ya? She's scared!"

"Doesn't mean she's gotta jump on me randomly…" he muttered.

Lila scowled and stood. She'd give him the silent treatment until they found Astro… If she could keep her mouth shut.

_There's a door there…_ Blaze thought to himself, looking slightly to his right. "I think we should go in here," he said, pointing to the large lab door.

"I have a bad feeling about going in here," Cora whispered.

Lila frowned and turned to Cora, forgetting her solemn oath from a few seconds ago. "I sense something bad will happen."

Frowning himself, Blaze examined the door. He noticed a handprint lock on the right of the door, and sighed. "It has a mechanical lock on it. I don't think we can—"

The doors suddenly began to open. Eyes wide, Blaze pushed Lila and Cora back down the hall. "In that closet there! Hurry!" he whispered through his teeth. Lila dragged Cora into it, waited for Blaze, and then slammed it shut.

"Are you sure it worked?" a man's voice sounded, but it was muffled, because they were all in a closet.

"We can only wait," a voice like Tenma's said. "I think I got it all out, but you can never be too sure."

_Got it all out?_ Blaze echoed inwardly. _What does he mean?_

"What if you didn't?" the other voice asked.

"If we didn't, then we'll just have to do it again," Tenma answered. "But in the process of taking the Shadow Core out, we took a little of Astro's Core, but not enough that he'll miss it."

_They took _what_ out of _where? Blaze thought, raising an eyebrow as the footsteps began walking past them in the closet.

"Will that alter anything?" the other scientist asked.

"No," he answered. "It won't alter…"

The voices faded away, and Blaze strained to hear them, leaning his ear up against the door. Without realizing it, he pressed his hand up against the door button. The door slid open, and - eyes wide - Blaze smacked his face on the ground outside the door.

Rapid footsteps approached. "Who's there?!"

_Crap!_ Blaze growled to himself, his face still flat on the floor, twitching somewhat.

Lila growled and pulled her brother in the closet, snapping the door shut. "You idiot!" Lila whispered harshly.

The footsteps came closer, and Blaze held his breath. _Please don't find us…! Please!_ he thought to himself.

The footsteps stopped in front of the door.

_No, no, no, no, no…!_ Blaze thought, shutting his eyes and swallowing nervously.

The door opened. "Looks like we picked up some strays." Tenma frowned.

Blaze groaned and fell back onto his bottom. "Great…" he muttered.

"What are you doing in here?" the scientist growled.

"Uh…" Blaze stammered, looking for the right thing to say.

"We're looking for Astro!" Lila blurted, standing up with her fists balled at her sides. "What have you done with him?!"

"And why have you been acting so weird?!" Cora butted in.

"It's none of your business!" Tenma shouted. "Astro's fine!"

"Tenma, don't be so harsh on them," the second voice - Dr. Elefun - said from behind Tenma.

Lila frowned. "Can we see him?"

"No!" Tenma exclaimed. "He's under observation!"

"Tenma!" Elefun whisper-shouted.

"Please, Sir!" Cora said, taking a few steps forward. "We just wanted to know if he was okay."

"Yeah, and what do you mean by 'observation'?" Lila echoed curiously.

"He's just recovering," Elefun said, smiling. "We'll keep him here a few days to make sure he's alright and then he can go home."

"Recovering from what?" Blaze pondered.

"We had to fix his Core," the shorter doctor replied.

"Fix his…Core?" Lila echoed, blinking. "But…how?"

"We had to remove it in order to get it out," Elefun answered.

"So he…died again?" Cora murmured in a small voice.

"Not exactly," Elefun sighed. "But yes, nonetheless.

Blaze looked to Tenma, who had a look of anger written all over his face. _There's a weird…vibe coming from him…_ he thought, cocking his head to the side slightly. _A vibe I've felt before…_

"What're _you_ looking at?!" Tenma snapped.

Blaze, Lila, and Cora all flinched back from the angry man who took a threatening step forward.

"Tenma, calm yourself!" Elefun muttered, holding him back by the shoulders. "This is _not_ like you."

"Like hell it's not!" Tenma snarled.

"Are you okay, Sir?" Lila asked.

"Perfectly fine!"

Blaze frowned. _There's something going on… And I think I know what it is…_

Elefun frowned. "Let's escort them home."

"You can do it, Elefun!" Tenma snapped. "I'm going back to the lab."

"B-but, Sir—" Lila was interrupted.

"I'm _not_ to be disrupted!" he shouted. Tenma stomped away into the lab.

Elefun sighed. "I don't know what's gotten in to him lately. I guess he's been stressed."

"That's putting it bluntly," Cora snapped, eyeing after him.

"We all have been stressed," Elefun sighed.

Blaze blinked after where Tenma disappeared. _He's been infected by the…Shadow Core._

Lila gave Blaze a curious look. "Are you having one of your rare moments of intelligence?"

Blaze whipped his head in the direction of Lila's voice. "What? Oh, yeah, maybe…I don't know…"

Lila laughed. "You _admit_ you're dumb!"

"I'm not dumb!" Blaze whined.

"Now, now, children," Dr. Elefun started, "let's not fight." Placing his hand on Blaze's shoulder, he began off towards the elevator. "Come along, now. You must leave Tenma to his work."

Lila sighed. "Okay, Sir…"

Cora and Lila followed after the doctor and Blaze as they entered the elevator. Once inside, Blaze looked back down the hallway, and then they were on the bottom floor.

"Which was the door out, again?" Lila asked. Dr. Elefun pointed to the double doors straight ahead with a smile. Lila smiled. "Thank you! I'm bad with directions."

Rolling his eyes, Blaze added, "Yeah, no kidding…"

Lila smirked. "At least I don't get _The Fool_ every day on _my_ tarots."

"You already said that!" Blaze whined, face-palming as they walked out the doors.

Lila grinned. "Elefun didn't know I did!"

"Well, I think it would've been better to say that when we were - oh, I don't know..._INSIDE MAYBE?!"_ Blaze shouted, his hands in front of him in fists.

"Blaze, stop it," Cora said. "I know we weren't able to see Astro, but I'm pretty sure he'll be at school Monday."

"What if he's not?" Blaze growled, looking at the ground.

"He will," Lila replied. "I have a feeling he will." Lila nodded. "Yeah! We'll ask the tarots when we get home."

As they raced through the streets of Metro City, Blaze couldn't help but ask himself, _Why couldn't we see Astro? I mean, if he were better, then wouldn't he have been up and about since he's a robot?_ Troubling thoughts all on his mind, he didn't even notice that they had made it home safe and sound.

Well, he didn't notice until he ran into the door…

"Ow!" Blaze yelped, falling onto his bottom, holding his nose. "Oww…!"

"Idiot!" Lila laughed.

Cora was snickering from behind his sister while Blaze rubbed his nose. "A little preoccupied, are we?"

"Blaze, you _do_ realize you're supposed to _open_ the door?" Lila joked.

"Yes!" Blaze hissed, standing up on wobbly legs. "I know that!"

"…It seemed like you forgot," Lila laughed.

"Grrr!" Blaze growled, stomping inside as the doors slid open.

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly.

Once at the elevator, Blaze and Lila turned to Cora. "So…what floor do you live on again?"

"Seven," she answered, giggling a little.

"Blaze, no flirting!" Lila whined.

Blushing violently, Blaze looked away. "I'm _not_ flirting!"

"Yes, you are!" Lila chimed.

Blaze muttered to himself as the entered the elevator, Lila and Cora laughing at his mutterings.

"It's so fun to tease him!" Lila cackled.

"Yeah, it is!" Cora snorted.

With a bored look on his face, Blaze added, "Why do I even bother…?"

"I dunno, why _do_ you?" Lila asked.

Blaze opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the elevator doors opening on the seventh floor of the apartment building.

"See you guys later!" Cora replied, waving with a smile as she headed down the hallway.

"Bye, Cora!" Lila and Blaze replied at the same time, both waving.

"Should we go home now?" Lila asked.

"Obviously," Blaze answered, rolling his eyes as the doors closed on them. Pressing the twelfth floor - which was also the very top floor - button, the elevator continued to rise until it reached its destination. Blaze and Lila stepped out, and the elevator was soon again occupied by some of their neighbors on the floor who wanted to travel to the ground floor. _Once we get inside our apartment, Lila will no doubt read the tarots…_ Blaze thought to himself as they reached their door. Pressing his thumb on the fingerprint lock, the door opened and they headed inside.

And, of course, the first thing Lila did was check her tarots - just to see if they were all still Death. "Weird!" Lila said as she sat on the floor of the living room.

"What?" Blaze asked, lounging on their couch, his eyes droopy.

"They're all normal now," she replied, looking up at him. She grinned. "Yay! Now I can check them!"

Face-palming, Blaze groaned. "Lovely…" he sighed sarcastically.

Lila grinned. "What? Don't you wanna know what happened to Astro?"

His eyes concerned, he shrugged. "I do, but then again…Tenma did say he was fine…right?"

Lila sighed. "Well, he is the doctor…"

"B-but he's not really a doctor. He's a scientist. It's what they call scientists," Blaze explained.

"That's just stupid. If he wasn't a doctor, why do they put 'doctor' in front of his name?" Lila asked, crossing her arms.

"I dunno!" Blaze replied. "But it is pretty stupid… Authority reasons?"

Lila shrugged. "Maybe, I don't know. But anyway! Let's read the tarots!"

Blaze face-palmed again. "Oh, brother…"

_"Sister!"_ Lila corrected him.

He groaned and fell over.

She giggled at that. "Okay… Want me to read yours first?"

"Fine!" Blaze groaned, his hand still plastered to the side of his head.

Lila spread out the tarots. "Hey! You didn't get The Fool this time!"

Blaze's eyes widened and he sat upright, leaning forward to look at the cards. "What? That's impossible—uh, I mean…whoo-hoo?"

She giggled. "Okay, the rest is all good! Now let's check Astro's!" Lila cheered.

Blaze leaned back onto the back of the couch and watched as Lila spread out the cards for Astro.

She frowned and listed them. "The Devil, Death, The Hermit, Wheel of Fortune upside down! Judgment, The Tower, and The Hanged Man… Poor Astro…"

"What? What's wrong now?" Blaze asked, leaning forward in his seat again.

Lila frowned. "Something bad is going to happen to Astro…"

Blaze bit his lip, a worried look written as plain as day across his face. Lila mirrored his look. _Not again…!_ Blaze growled in thought.

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Blaze smashed his hand down on his alarm clock and yawned, stretching his arms high towards the ceiling.

Lila scowled and pulled her blanket over her head. _"Cut that off!"_

"It's already off, stupid!" Blaze shouted towards her room. "We have school today, so get up!"

"NO!" Lila shouted.

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Blaze got up from his bed and hurried towards his bathroom. He brushed his teeth, ran a comb through his hair, and smiled at his reflection. "Hey, good lookin'. What's cookin'?" Before he realized it, Lila came up behind him and smacked him over the head. Turning around and rubbing his head, he added, "Ow…!"

"Quit flirting with yourself, idiot," Lila hissed, her hands on her hips. "That's selfcest," she ranted. "Which is gross! It's like…masturbation!"

"Ew!" Blaze hissed, flinching away from his sister. "You're gonna make my ears bleed!"

Lila burst out laughing.

"Whatever," Blaze huffed. "Just go get ready for school and meet me by the door."

"Which door?" Lila asked, still stifling a laugh.

"THE FRONT DOOR!" he shouted, waving his arms in the air.

"I'm half asleep," Lila giggled.

Blaze face-palmed and groaned. "Go get ready…" he repeated in a cold and threatening tone.

Lila shrugged, smiling. "Okay!" And with that, she hopped off to her room.

_I don't even…!_ Blaze thought, his hand still on his face.

Lila got ready quickly and met up with Blaze at the door. "Okay, ready? We gotta catch the Metro Bus," Blaze told her.

She nodded. "Yup! I've got a good feeling today." Then she frowned. "…Crap, I forgot to check the tarots. But with the scares I had yesterday, I kind of don't want to…" Lila remarked.

Blaze laughed as they exited their apartment and hurried to the elevator. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure everything will be fine, okay?"

"Okay." Lila grinned.

As soon as they were outside, the Metro Bus was immediately there, as if it had simply appeared there out of thin air. "C'mon!" Blaze yelled, waving his hand through the air.

Lila raced past him and onto the bus. "Hey!" Blaze laughed, running after her and onto the bus. Once on, Blaze found a seat near the back, while Lila sat up front with some of her weird friends. Blaze didn't have any friends, except for Astro and Cora. They were all he had, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he go to school, graduate, go to college, get a good job, and so on, so forth. Lila was way more social. Weird, but social.

On the seemingly long - but short - bus ride to school, which was now fixed and ready for action - thanks to the Ministry of Science - Blaze and Lila hopped off the bus last, as was tradition. "I hope Astro will be here today…" Blaze sighed, his hands in his pockets.

Lila nodded. "I think he will."

"I hope so," Blaze repeated as they walked up the stairs towards Metro City High. _And to think, if they hadn't have moved the school to an abandoned factory, none of this would have happened! Since the Shadow Core was in there, maybe Astro would've never found it, and maybe nothing would have happened! _He broke off his thoughts as they wandered down the halls. _And since when do we go to Metro High?!_ Opening his mouth to ask, Blaze was interrupted by Lila.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, our parents re-enrolled us into Metro High."

Blaze's face heated up as red as a fire truck. "NICE TO KNOW, THANKS," he hissed sarcastically, embarrassment fuming inside him.

Lila burst out laughing. "You should see your face!" she snickered, pointing at him.

"Screw off!" he retorted. She just continued to laugh at him. Blaze hung his head low with embarrassment. _Why don't people tell me things…?_ he thought as they came to the first class of the day.

And, luckily, they saw Astro!

"Astro!" Lila chirped, running up to the boy robot. He sat at his desk, wearing a black t-shirt with a white stripe on the sleeve and dark blue jeans. Lila ran into Astro and gave him a big hug. Astro looked up with a surprised - but subtle - look.

"Oh, hey, guys!" Astro laughed, giving Lila a hug back.

Blaze slowly walked up to Astro with a smile on his face. "Hey, buddy. It's good to see you."

"It's nice to see you, too," Astro grinned.

"So, what happened with all the crazy shadow stuff?" Lila asked, plopping down in the empty seat next to Astro.

"Oh, that? Well, uh…" He broke off and his eyes slid away from the two of them. "I-I guess it's gone. My Dad said I'm fine now…and strangely enough, he was nice about it."

"Oh? He was rude to us when we tried to check." Lila giggled.

"But that was two days ago," Blaze replied, looking at his sister. "He was…infected by whatever had infected Astro. I should know."

"So you're telling me my father was infected by…the Shadow Core?" Astro asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Maybe."

Blaze rolled his eyes. "He was. Astro and I should both understand this!"

Astro blinked, losing focus for a second.

"Uh…buddy? Astro? You okay?" Blaze asked, waving his hand in front of his face.

Astro shook his head, and looked back up at his two friends. "Has anyone seen Cora?"

"Nope!" Lila replied.

"She's a grade higher than all of us, remember," Blaze said. "I got held back a grade, so it _would_ make sense I'm in the same grade as you guys."

"Loser," Lila snickered.

Blaze shot her a look, and Astro smiled. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I guess I'll just see her at lunch then."

"Okay, then!" Lila said, smiling.

Sitting beside his sister, Blaze leaned over towards her. "He seems…normal."

"Yes, he actually seems sane today," Lila replied.

"It's weird," Blaze replied.

"What? They fixed him."

"I know, but for almost a week, he was acting weird, and it was…almost normal to me, and now that he is normal…" He broke off, taking a breath and looking sideways at Astro, his eyes fixated on the teacher. "Yeah… Weird."

Lila turned her head sideways. "I suppose so."

The three classes before lunch passed by like clockwork. It was almost as if today weren't at all in any way normal. And then at lunch…

"Hey, Astro!" Blaze called, waving. Astro turned, a smile plastered on his face.

"Hey, guys! Where's Cora?" he asked.

Lila pointed to another table. "Over there, I think."

"Why isn't she with us, then?" Blaze asked, his eyebrow raised.

Astro shook his head. "No, that's Cora's look-alike, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Lila replied, seeing a small spark on Astro's hand.

Blaze noticed the look on his sister's face. "What is it…?"

"Astro… Are you okay?" Lila asked.

"I'm f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-fine," he replied, his voice glitching like the sound on a computer about to crash.

Blaze frowned. _What the…?_

Lila frowned. "You sure?"

"Positive!"

"…I'm tempted to ask when the baby is due, but I feel that'd be wrong since you're a guy…"

_"And_ he's a robot," Blaze said, rolling his eyes. "And besides, Lila, that's wrong. _Very_ wrong."

"I can have a _little_ fun, can't I?" she asked innocently.

Blaze shook his head, chuckling a little. "No, sis. No, you can't."

"Awwwwww!"

Both Blaze and Astro burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

Instantly pausing in their laughter, Blaze and Astro looked up to see Cora standing there with tray in hand, smile plastered on her face.

"Cora!" Astro exclaimed, hopping up from his seat and hugging her, despite the tray she held in her hands.

"Hi there," Lila chimed.

"Well, hi!" Cora laughed, setting her tray down on the table and returning Astro's hug. "Astro, I'm glad you're okay!"

Lila sent them a concerned look.

Blaze looked over at his sister. He knew that look anywhere. _What is she thinking? _he thought as all four of them sat at the table.

"So, how've you been doing?" Cora asked.

"Pretty good, I guess," Astro answered. "Although, I can't say for sure what exactly all happened when I was…getting fixed."

"Your dad was being pretty…how should I say it? Uncaring?" Lila replied, frowning.

Astro shrugged. "Like you said, if he was under the influence of the Shadow Core, then of course he would act that way."

"Of course," Lila muttered. Blaze elbowed his sister under the table. "Ow…!" she muttered, rubbing her side.

"But I mean, look at what it did to Blaze!" Astro continued. "My father was barely in contact with me physically, so he wouldn't have gotten it that much."

Blaze shrugged. "It still sucked."

"What did?" Cora asked.

"His dad's attitude."

"Oh," she murmured. Lila nodded in agreement.

Astro's body sparked just a little bit, causing Blaze, Lila, and Cora to give little shouts of surprise. "Ow!" Cora exclaimed, rubbing her arm from where the spark hit her.

Lila's look grew even more concerned. "Oh dear…" she murmured.

"What _was_ that?" Blaze asked her.

"I dunno," Lila replied in concern.

"Astro, you okay?" Cora asked, concerned.

"I-I-I-I-I-I don't kn-kn-kn-kn-know?" he replied, voice buzzing with distortion.

Lila frowned. "What the _hell_ did Tenma do to you?!"

Astro gave a small shake of his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

Lila said nothing. "What is going on, dude?" Blaze asked, raising his eyebrow. "You're like…glitching, or something!"

"Like a computer with a virus," Lila replied. "Oh! Do you have a virus?"

"How could I have a virus? I may be a robot, but I was made to be exactly like a human," Astro replied, frowning.

"Maybe the Shadow Core put a virus in you?" Lila suggested.

"B-but my father got it all out…right?" he asked, beginning to become worried.

"Maybe he couldn't get it all out?" Cora wondered.

"Or maybe he downloaded it into you," Lila replied.

"Why would he download the Shadow Core into me?" Astro asked. "I thought…he took it out…?"

"No, no! The _Shadow Core_ might have downloaded the virus!"

"So it's a 'he' now, Lila?" Blaze asked, crossing his arms.

"Yes, he's a _he!"_

Astro shook his head, and stood up from the table. "I-I'm sorry, guys. I just…" All eyes trained onto Astro, and Blaze could tell he was about to crack under the pressure. "I can't _take_ this anymore! You're treating my father like some criminal!"

"But, Astro—" Cora was interrupted.

"No!" Astro exclaimed, causing the murmurs of the lunchroom to die instantly. "I've had _enough!"_

Blaze instantly ran after Astro as he hurried out of the double doors of the lunchroom. "Astro, wait!" he called after the robot boy. But he was already somewhere else. _Dammit! I lost him!_

Lila scowled. "I didn't think we were talking about Tenma like that."

"Maybe he took it that way?" Cora asked.

As soon as it happened, everyone began up in their conversations again, like nothing ever happened. Blaze stared out after the door with a sorrowful look on his face. _Where could he have gone?_

* * *

_How could I be glitching?_ Astro wondered, sitting on the roof of the school, his arms wrapped around his legs. _I barely noticed anything wrong…and why were they talking about my dad like that?!_ He sighed. _I guess they really _aren't_ my friends…_

As the afternoon sun beat down on Astro's back, he looked down at the ground below him. _I'm a failure. Everyone else hates me. I just wish I could _make_ them like me… I don't like it that people hate robots… I mean, come on, what did the robots do to deserve to be treated like trash?! It's because we're not 'real', I bet. Artificial…man-made. It's like we don't exist, yet we do, but it's in the back of their minds._ Astro looked up into the sky, watching as the clouds rolled by without a care in the world, as the birds flew by, chirping their songs.

_I envy them. They're so free… They don't have anything to worry about! They're not the ones who save the world!_ He sighed, looking back down at the ground, a tear sliding down his pure skin. _At least they have each other… _He scowled then, balling his hands into fists. _I don't have _anyone!_ No one cares about me! _He scoffed._ Well I'll show them, eventually! Then they'll _all_ care! _All of them!

Astro stood up abruptly with a frown on his face, his fists still balled up tightly at his sides. _They'll _all_ care! Sooner or later, I'll teach them _all_ that robots are not _TRASH!_ That _they're_ trash! Robots are better than them! So much better!_

Growling to himself, tears streaming down his cheeks, Astro - with a grunt - threw his fist down at the top of the school, making a large dent in the building. _I'll show them! Maybe I was better off _with_ the Shadow Core! Maybe my father shouldn't have taken it out! Maybe he should've kept it in!_

A dark look crossed his face, and a cold smile threw itself onto him. _Yes…he should have kept it in! When I had it, I was feared…_respected!_ But without it, everyone takes me as if I'm _trash!_ I'm _not_ trash! I never _will_ be! _I'M NOT TRASH! With another growl, Astro ran over towards an AC unit on top of the building, shoving his fist inside it, crumbling it to the ground - or in this case, the top of the school. He heard a few screams from the students and grinned. _Yes! Now I'm feared! They will respect me! They _will_ fear me!_ He began laughing maniacally, the grin spreading wider and wider on his face. Astro punched another hole in the ceiling. _Yes…YES!_

A low ringing noise began in the back of his mind, but he was too madly into what he was doing to even notice. That is, until the voice started. _Astro…_ the voice whispered.

Astro whipped his head around, his eyes wide with madness. "Who's there?!" he shouted.

_You hurt me, Astro… Why?_

"I didn't hurt you," Astro replied, cocking his head sideways. "You're the one who hurt _me."_

_You betrayed me. You're a traitor. You and I…we're similar. But you wanted me gone and made that damned human cut me apart! Why, Astro? WHY?!_

"I…I'm a traitor? B-but you almost made me…hurt my friends…" Astro countered, his eyes zoning out towards the Ministry in the distance.

_Friends? Just think about how they were treating you earlier… Like you were…fragile._

"I'm _not_ fragile. I'm more capable of doing things than they are!" Astro growled, his fists balling up once more.

_Yes! See, they aren't your friends! I am! But you sold me out anyway!_

"But how are you my friend?" Astro asked. "You sucked away at my energy, just to fulfill your own wants and needs!"

_I gave you the respect you deserve!_

"That, _and_ you stuck with me…" He broke off, his mind beginning to wander away from him. _What if the Shadow Core is right?_ He scoffed. _Of _course_ he's right! All robots need to be respected!_

Astro could practically hear the Core's grin. _I gave you authority and power… Without me, you're _nothing!

"I'm nothing? But I'm something at least…right?"

_No, you were nothing to begin with. Remember how you were meant to be a replacement! Remember how your _father_ treated you! How _everyone _treated you! _No_ one would accept you for who you are, and they deserve to be taken care of._

With a grin, Astro replied, "Yes. They _do_ deserve to be taken care of…with _DESTRUCTION!"_

_Yes!_ the Shadow Core laughed. _Now, do as you're told, and come get me out of this retched place that they call a prison!_

"Where are you?" Astro asked.

_I'm at the Ministry, in a place they call 'sub-level zero'._

"On it," Astro answered with a grin, shooting up into the air and towards the Ministry.

The door behind him burst open, and a voice called out, "Astro! Wait!" But he ignored it and continued flying. He had recognized it to be Cora's voice, but he just continued on.

After all, he didn't need Cora. He didn't need _anyone!_

Bursting forward with a sudden burst of speed, Astro broke through the top window of the eleventh floor of the Ministry, surprising a few scientists. One just so happened to be Dr. Elefun.

"Astro, what is the meaning of this?!" Elefun shouted.

Astro smirked, standing up straight. "You're going to tell me where sub-level zero is."

"Huh? I'm afraid not," Elefun replied.

"Well, then I'm just going to have to _beat_ it out of you!" Astro growled, raising his fist and running at Elefun.

Elefun dodged quickly, causing Astro to punch a large hole in the wall of the hallway. "Astro, stop!" Astro swung his arm again, and Elefun dodged once more, him swinging through empty air. "I _knew_ we didn't get it all out! I _knew_ it!"

"Someone get Tenma!" another scientist yelled.

"He went home a few minutes ago!" yet another yelled.

Elefun stared at Astro, frowning. "Now, Astro…there's no need for this."

Astro shook his head. "Of course there is! I need respect! What I don't need is some _stupid_ scientist telling me how to act!"

"Astro, please calm down! I'll take you there if you calm down!"

Astro rose an eyebrow. "You'll _willingly_ take me there? Without any traps or something else that's stupid?"

"Honestly," Elefun replied.

"Dr. Elefun, what are you _doing?"_ Dr. Leroy shouted, grabbing at his hair.

Elefun shot him a look. "Be quiet!"

Astro looked from man to man as an idea began to develop in his mind. _He's planning on trapping me somehow. I'll just overthrow him and take the Shadow Core by force!_

"Have you calmed?" Elefun asked.

Astro hesitated a moment before nodding. "Yes, I have."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Astro replied, raising his right hand, but all the while crossing his fingers behind his back.

"Alright, then let's go," Elefun sighed, beginning to lead the way. "Oh, wait." Elefun frowned. "There's a metal detector down there."

"Then turn it off!" Astro nearly shouted. Elefun turned to look at him, and he swallowed nervously. "I, uh… I mean, turn it off?"

Elefun gave Astro another eye of suspicion, but continued forward nonetheless. "Of course, Astro." He sighed. "We need to get to the control room. It'll take a while."

Astro growled to himself as Elefun led the way to the control room. _Great! Just what I needed. He's trying to divert me until Tenma gets here!_

Elefun led him to the basement floor and walked into the room. "Now… Which one was the metal detector again?"

Astro sat there with a bored look on his face, arms crossed over his chest, tapping his foot. _Come on, old man!_ he shouted in his head.

"…Do we even _have_ a metal detector?"

Astro grabbed the sides of his head, and with a growl of frustration, he smashed every single control. _"THERE!_ Now it's fixed!"

"Astro!" Elefun shouted. "You've destroyed every control of the building!"

"Good!" Astro replied, laughing. "Maybe this will make our search more fun."

"Yeah, but we can't get in sub-level zero if the controls are smashed…"

"Um, duh? I'm a robot, I think I can smash through a door!" Astro snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Ten feet of titanium," Elefun told him.

"Pff! Piece of cake!" Astro said, cracking his knuckles. "Let's get going."

"If you insist…" Elefun frowned, leading the way once more.

He led Astro to a secret elevator, hidden behind a wall. Astro smiled, stepping inside the elevator – along with Elefun. Once the doors closed, Elefun pressed a button, which lit up a bright yellow.

"Good thing this elevator runs on a separate power unit," Elefun sighed, looking up at the top of the elevator.

They went down for what seemed like forever. The doors opened, and Astro was met with a sight beyond words. Junk was piled everywhere, but it wasn't as bad as it sounded. Astro could see the Peacekeeper pieces over to one side, the Red Core fragment over on another side, the red light that once shone in the orb gone.

Astro looked at it in wonder. _Don't even think about it. It's dead, so don't bother,_ he thought, turning to Elefun. He had a subtle look on his face, making Astro angry. "Take me to the Shadow Core," he ordered.

"What? Are you nuts? I'm not letting you anywhere _near_ that thing!" Elefun answered, stepping in front of him.

"Oh, and by the way, what happened to the door? I didn't see a door when we walked in, did you?" Elefun bit his lip in worry, and Astro smiled coldly. "Exactly. You're busted, old man!"

"Who're you calling old man?!" Elefun growled, jumping at Astro. Before Astro could react, Elefun whipped a pair of lightning cuffs onto Astro's wrists. "Ha! Got you now!"

Astro frowned, wanting to face-palm, but couldn't. "No…I got _you!"_ Pulling on the cuffs almost effortlessly, the chain broke and the cuffs fell off his wrists. With an evil laugh, Astro jumped into the air and flew towards the end of the room, where he thought they would keep it.

"Code Red! Code Red!" he heard Elefun shout.

Astro grinned. _Code Red… Ha! Like that'll do anything._

_That's it. Come to me!_ the voice shouted.

Astro turned left to where the voice was coming from, seeing a dark, gloomy-looking shadow in a box. Landing in front of it, he observed it for a moment, before the voice shouted once more.

_LET ME OUT, DAMMIT!_

With a shout, Astro threw his fist at the box, but it wouldn't budge. He frowned, looking at his hand, opening and closing it a few times. Changing his arm into a cannon, he fired at the box, causing a large explosion. Knocked back a few feet, Astro looked up from his position on the ground to see that the box had been opened. Astro grinned.

_Now, come get me._

Astro whipped to his feet, hurrying towards the box. As soon as he reached for the Core, Elefun came up behind him, puffing for breath. "Astro, don't do it! Stop!"

"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" Astro shouted, grabbing the Core from it's broken containment.

"NO!" Elefun cried, his hand outstretched.

A black thread began to swirl all around Astro. He looked down at it with wide eyes. "Wh-what's…?" he stammered, watching the black mist. "What's going on?!" he nearly shouted, whipping his arms around to try and get it off. "Get off me!"

Elefun watched, eyes wide as the mist began to suck inside of Astro. The robot boy fell to his knees, his head stretched towards the ceiling. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Astro shouted, the black mist enveloping him. In the process of being 'transformed', Astro blindly crushed the Shadow Core in his hand. The black mist instantly stopped swirling, disappearing all together. Astro fell onto his hands and knees, the fragments of the Core on the ground in front of him.

"What's going on?!" Tenma shouted, coming up to stand beside Elefun, along with three guards, Blaze, Lila, and Cora - who had all begged to come down as well.

"A-Astro?" Cora whispered, stepping cautiously towards him, her arm nervously outstretched.

His head snapped towards her and he grinned. His eyes…they were now dark gray, and his pupils?

Dark red.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Oh...my...gawd. Most longest chapter...i have EVER written. e.e

I hope you enjoyed! Me and Moon are taking a break from this for a few days, so yeah. :P Review!


	9. A Fine Mess

**Author's Note:** Surprise! It's up earlier than I expected, mostly because it's a short chapter, but not short enough that you'll be unsatisfied, no! XD Anyway, profanity in here, blah blah. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8:** **A Fine Mess **

Surprise flitted across all of their faces as Astro smirked up at them, a cold laugh bubbling at his lips.

"Dude, you okay?" Lila asked.

"Oh, I'm _more_ than okay," Astro laughed, grinning coldly.

"Okay," Lila replied. _No, he's not._

"Are you being _stupid_ or something, Lila?!" Blaze shouted, grabbing at his hair, his eyes wide. "LOOK AT HIS FRICKING EYES!"

"I'm thinking," Lila hissed.

"You should be _acting_ in a time like this!" Blaze hissed.

"Astro, halt," one guard commanded, pointing a gun at him. "You are under arrest!"

Astro stood up and grinned, swiftly changing his right arm into a cannon. "You _really_ want to test me?"

Lila scowled. _This is the bad thing._ "Guys… I really think we should run away now…" Lila murmured, backing up a few steps.

"Nonsense!" Tenma growled. "He is to be arrested!"

"You're testing me," Astro murmured. "Now it's time for _you_ to test yourselves!" At that precise moment, about five high-powered guns, popped out of Astro's back, pointing at everyone. His arms changed into high-powered cannons, with beams pointing out through the middle and sides.

Tenma's eyes were wide. "I...I didn't program that many guns into him!"

"The Shadow Core must be giving him more powerful weapons," Elefun answered as everyone began to step back.

"Um… This is where I take my leave," Lila said slowly, turning to run.

"RUN!" Elefun shouted as he saw Astro's cannons begin to power up. As everyone ran for the exit, alarms began blaring as soon as Astro's cannons fired where everyone once was.

He laughed evilly, smoke coming from his cannons. "You can run, but you _can't hide!"_

"That is _so_ cliché!" Lila called back.

As they exited sub-level zero, hurrying up the elevator and out of the building, there were already dozens of police hover cars waiting outside.

"We've heard there's a disturbance here," the lead policeman said, taking out a notepad. "Could you describe to us what's happening?"

A loud _crash_ sounded behind all of them, and Lila looked up to see Astro flying away from the Ministry, his flames red and black. "Does _that_ answer your question?" Lila snorted, turning back to the man.

"Yes, yes it does," the man replied, scribbling something in his notepad.

Lila rolled her eyes. _And he's taking notes when he should be off chasing him!_ She face-palmed. _I'm surrounded by idiots._

A few more moments passed, before the lead officer hurried back to his cruiser. "We have to catch him!" he shouted to the others, turning his car around and speeding off towards where Astro disappeared, his fellow officers following him.

"What is _with_ the police these days?" Lila asked.

Blaze shrugged as he watched them go. "They're lazy, I guess?"

"Hey, kid, don't talk about the police that way," Dr. Tenma scolded. "They could save your life some day!"

"They were taking notes instead of trying to get Astro," Lila retorted.

"They have to take notes too, sweetie," Elefun remarked.

"Still," Lila pouted.

Blaze face-palmed. "Okay, can we go see what's happenin—?" Blaze broke off as Astro flew by over their heads, followed by the dozens of police cruisers that were still chasing after him - although Blaze could see that at least two were missing.

"Stand down, by orders of President Logan!" the officer shouted.

"Logan can kiss my ass!" Astro laughed, flying off into the distance.

"Language." Lila muttered.

Astro flew back around, his high-powered arm cannon drawn, and pointed below. "HAHAHAHA!" he laughed while shouting, his eyes wide with madness.

"LOOK OUT!" Elefun shouted, pushing everyone out of the way while Astro's cannon blast hit the ground where they once were.

"Holy shitake mushrooms!" Lila shouted.

Astro did a one-eighty in the air, turning his cannon back into his arm, bracing himself. _Now why would he be bracing himself?_ Lila wondered, looking to the right. _Unless…_ "LOOK OUT…AGAIN!" she shouted, and everyone ducked as Astro grabbed a police cruiser out of mid-flight, twirled it around and around, and threw it off to the side where it exploded upon impact with the ground. Luckily, the officer jumped before it crashed.

"Let's make like the French and run!"

"Yeah!" Cora shouted, running away, followed by Blaze, Lila, Tenma, and Elefun. The three guards had high-tailed it as soon as they saw what Astro could do now.

_Chickens…_ Lila growled to herself.

Was there any way he could be fixed now?

* * *

Blaze huffed to a stop as he entered the hideout. Cora and Lila sat in front of him, their faces dirty and sweaty. It had been a whole six hours since Astro went on a rampage, and he had been destroying buildings, police cruisers, hover cars...technically anything he could find. All the citizens of Metro City either hid out on the Surface, in their bomb shelters below their homes, or just somewhere they thought he couldn't get to them. "I got the food," he huffed as he sat down in front of the two girls.

"No water?" Cora asked, looking at Blaze's nearly empty hands. All he had with him was a loaf of bread.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Everyone else got to the water before I did."

Lila scowled. "How did all this happen in only six hours?"

"I don't know, but it's too unreal, huh?" Blaze said, splitting the bread into three halves. "If the school hadn't moved to a stupid abandoned factory, none of this would've ever happened."

"Right?" Cora coughed, handed a piece of the bread.

Lila began nibbling on the tip of her piece. "I just hope we can get some water soon."

_"I_ hope that Tenma and Elefun are alright," Blaze interjected, taking a bite of his piece of bread. "We got separated when we were running for cover nearly six hours ago."

"I hope they find us," Lila sighed. "And bring water."

"Yeah," Cora added, her voice raspy from the lack of water. "My throat is on fire."

Blaze scooted over to Cora. "If you keep swallowing your spit, I'm pretty sure your throat will stay wet for a little bit."

Lila gave him the eye. "Blaze..."

"What? I'm only telling her the essentials of survival," he replied, shrugging innocently.

"Since when did you learn anything about _'survival'?_ All you ever did was sit on your butt and play video games."

"Which is exactly how I learned it," Blaze retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"How is a video game supposed to teach you about survival?" Cora asked.

_"Survival_ video games," Blaze replied, winking at her. "Never underestimate their powers."

"Ewwww!" Lila exclaimed, flinching away from the two. "Don't flirt with her in front of me, gross!"

"Haha," Cora laughed. "It's fine, it's not like Astro and I could be together now—I did _not_ mean to say that out loud."

Her eyes were wide as Lila pointed her fingers at her. "I KNEW IT! I knew my ship was right!"

"Here she goes again," Blaze muttered.

"Hey," she huffed, crossing her arms, "at least I'm not complaining about the tarots. They're baaaaaaad news. Mostly ALL THE TIME!"

"Quit fighting," Cora hissed.

Lila and Blaze both flinched back from her tone, Blaze scooting back to his original position. "Sorry..." he murmured.

An explosion outside made everyone start. Blaze looked towards the door, eyes wide. They had hidden in their bomb shelter underneath their apartment building, but it seemed that everyone had been too wild with panic to remember there was one. _I just hope our parents made it out okay…_ he thought to himself as the rumbling finally stopped.

"What was that?" Lila whispered, eyes wide.

"Obviously something called an Astro," Blaze hissed, knocking on his head. "DUH!"

"I know, but what did he do?" Lila asked.

Swallowing nervously, Blaze stood up. "I'll go check."

Lila grabbed his arm. As he turned back to look at her, she looked away. "Be...careful, okay?"

He nodded, smiling as she let go of his arm. "I will, sis." Looking to Cora, he added, "I'll see if I can find some water as well."

She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Blaze."

"Don't be gone too long, 'kay?" Lila asked.

"I promise I'll try not to," he laughed, smiling at the both of them. He had a feeling deep down in his stomach that something was going to happen, whether it be to him, or to anyone he knew - he didn't really know. _I know I shouldn't be saying this, but I wish Lila had her tarots!_ he thought as he exited the shelter.

He looked around. Astro had destroyed everything. Well…_mostly_ everything. There were still a few buildings intact, but Blaze thought that he had just missed them by some unlucky shots. The buildings that _were_ destroyed, however, had black fire coming out of the holes in the walls.

_How can fire be black?_ Blaze thought. Thinking back to when he saw Astro flying above him, he noticed that his rocket flames were both black and red. _Oh…_ he thought, face-palming. _Duh!_ _I'm such a derp._

Looking around once more, he sighed. _So much destruction...from one robot... _Then he shrugged. _He _is_ a powerful robot…_ _How are we gonna catch him?_

Blaze hurried to a broken concrete structure, hiding behind it and looking around. _No sign of Astro..._ he thought as he leaned to look. _But where is everyone else?_

As if on cue, a man carrying a box full of food and water ran by. Blaze looked after him desperately. "Hey, wait!" he called, but the man had already vanished. Blaze let out a groan of annoyance before running in his general direction. "Sir, hold on! Can I just have one bottle of water, please?!" Blaze shouted, scrambling over fallen debris.

Again, he went unheard.

The man in front of him turned abruptly down a tight alleyway. Blaze hurried towards the alleyway, but when he approached it, he realized that the man had just vanished into thin air. There were no doors, or another way out of that alley.

He was trapped.

A shadow loomed behind him, and as he saw it on the ground, his eyes widened and he swallowed nervously. _Uh-oh..._ Turning around slowly, he was instantly greeted by a group of men. The man he was following earlier led the group. They each had a crowbar in their hands.

"Um… Hi?" Blaze said nervously.

"Hey, punk," the guy on the left said, smacking the crowbar in his hand repeatedly. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Uh...I was just trying to get a little water..." he answered, taking a step back.

"We got a thief, boys!"

"No, no, no!" Blaze interjected, waving his hands in front of him and taking more steps back. "You've got it all wrong! I'm all by myself with my sister and friend, and she's nearly dying of dehydration!"

"Likely story…"

"No, I'm serious!" Blaze nearly shouted. His back bumped up against the back wall of the alley, and he swallowed nervously. He was doomed.

The man hit the bar on his hand repeatedly as he stepped closer. "He probably has all _tons_ of food," the lead man scoffed. "Let's beat it out of him, shall we, boys?"

"Yeah!" his cronies shouted at the same time.

_I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm _deaaaaad! Blaze thought, squinting his eyes shut and bracing himself for the impact of the crowbars.

"YAAAAAAH!"

Blaze peeked through his fingers to see the most unexpected person he would think would come to his rescue.

Lila.

"TAKE THAT, YOU FILTHY SCAVENGERS!" Lila shouted, kicking them all in their privates. All three men fell to the ground, all dropping their weapons and holding onto themselves. "I told you not to stay out too long," Lila chimed, smiling with glee.

"Wh-wh-wh-wha—?" Blaze stammered, still shaking.

"Come on, silly. We gotta get water for Cora." With that, she hurried over to the wall, looking at it intensely.

"Uh...what're you doing?" he asked, peeling himself from the wall.

She knocked on the wall, and gasped, turning to Blaze with a smile. "Holographic projection! There's a door here."

"How'd you know that?" Blaze asked, crossing his arms.

She shrugged. "My class went somewhere before, and it had a holographic projector over a secret door, and—" She broke off, shaking her head. "Never mind that. Come on!"

Blaze rose an eyebrow as Lila pressed her hand against the 'door'. It beeped once and opened, revealing a whole room full of food and water.

"SWEET!" Lila yelled. "SO MUCH FOOD! I can already _taste_ it!" As Lila charged forward, Blaze held her back by grabbing the back of her hoodie. "Hey, what gives?!" she whined, crossing her arms.

"Don't they need food and water too?" Blaze asked, motioning towards the three men who were still holding themselves on the ground.

"They can have the leftovers," Lila pouted.

Blaze sighed, looking Lila in the eye. "Quit being selfish, Lila," he replied, walking into the room. "We'll only just grab what we need, okay?"

"Fine," she huffed, pursing her lip as she hurried to help her brother. "Can we get the cake?"

Blaze sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine...we can get the cake."

"Yay!" Lila cheered, grabbing for the cake. "We be eatin' goooood tonight!"

"Yeah, but don't just stuff your face full of junk, Lila," Blaze told her, grabbing some insta-meals from the corner by the milk and water. "We have to make sure our food will last us."

"Awwwww," Lila pouted. "Okay."

As soon as Lila and Blaze got their arms full of food and water, they set out of the room, snuck past the three men, and hurried as fast as they could manage back to their shelter. They greeted Cora by throwing some water at her.

She gasped, reaching for the water and sitting up from lying down. "Where did you...?" She broke off as she looked up at the two, seeing all the food and water they had in their hands. "Where'd you get all that?!" she breathed, hungrily opening the water and gulping it down.

"We found a hidden hologram passage," Lila replied flatly.

She rose an eyebrow at them. "Um..." Looking at Blaze as he set the food and water down on the ground, she added, "Why are you bleeding?"

Blaze frowned and looked all over himself, before noticing that there was a scrape on his knee, the pants having been torn.

"Uh…" he started. "I…fell?"

Cora frowned at him. "Blaze, come on. I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying."

Lila giggled. "I had to save his ass."

Blaze sent a look in Lila's direction. "Hey, I could've beat them up!"

"With what, your looks?"

Blaze scowled. "No!"

"Guys, don't fight," Cora sighed, opening up her other bottle of water. "Now's not the time to fight."

"Sorry..." Blaze murmured.

"So what did you all see outside?" Cora asked, taking a break from her water.

Blaze looked away for a split second before replying, "Well...it's devastating, that's what it is."

Lila nodded. "Everything is…Dystopian, in my opinion."

Cora sighed. "And all of it is Astro's fault..." Cora breathed in a small voice, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Awww, Cora...!" Lila sighed, going over and hugging her. "It's okay. It's not _really_ his fault. It's the Shadow's Core's, okay? And I'm pretty sure now everyone will notice that."

_Ugh, mushy stuff..._ Blaze thought, rolling his eyes.

"Don't let this ruin the ship…" Lila pleaded.

_And she only cares about her 'ship'?_ Blaze thought, looking away.

Lila then smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. I hope he's okay."

"I don't think he can take it," Cora cried, wiping a tear. "When I met him, he was so nice...and _now_ look at him!"

"Speaking of which, how _did_ you guys meet? Weren't you living on the Surface when the city was in the air?" Blaze asked.

"Well, it's a long story..." Cora sniffled.

"Tell us," Lila replied.

She sighed, wiping the last tears from her face before she recalled her tale. "Well, it all started when me, Zane, and the others - Sludge and Widget - were out looking for robot parts for Hamegg's robot games. Our robot dog, Trashcan, had found something, and so we had went over to look, but it was a kid and not a robot...at least, that's what we thought." She looked over at Blaze before continuing. "And so we offered to let him stay with us, and he helped us with our star champion named ZOG, who's a really big construction robot made back in the 2150's. He had turned him back on, and ZOG was powered with the same energy he had.

"One night, Astro and I were sitting on the hood of Hamegg's hover car, just looking out at the stars, and we were talking about things. Just random things, really. I had told him that I had parents up in Metro City, and he - I think - was trying to tell me that he was a robot, but he couldn't steel up enough courage to, I guess." She looked up at the ceiling. "The next day was the day of the robot games. We were heading inside, and going to the stands, when Hamegg just randomly shocked Astro, and that's when we learned he was a robot."

"Oh, jeez." Lila breathed.

Cora nodded. "Yeah, and so Hamegg put him in the robot games, and he won, no worries," she added when she saw the looks on Blaze and Lila's faces. "But then President Stone came and took Astro away to be turned off. I don't really know what happened after that, but then all of us kids had to go rescue Astro when he was battling the Peacekeeper, and that's pretty much it."

"He died, too, didn't he?" Blaze wondered.

Cora nodded again. "Yeah. It was sad, but good thing Metro City was back on the Surface, otherwise ZOG would've never been able to turn him back on."

"Wow…" Lila gasped.

"Yeah," Cora sighed, relaxing a bit. "And that's when I knew."

"Knew what?" Blaze asked.

She looked at him, her blue eyes blazing with an invisible fire. "That I loved him."

Lila's mouth dropped into a dumbfounded 'O'. "WHAAAAAT?! Actual _LOVE?! _OH MY GOD, YES!"

Blaze face-palmed. _Great..._

"MY SHIP IS REAL!"

Just then, another loud explosion sounded, but this time, it sounded dreadfully eerie. "Um..." Cora murmured, eyes wide.

"I think we better...uh...you know, HIDE?!" Blaze shouted, jumping towards the back, pulling Lila and Cora with him.

The loudest _crash_ ever sounded right outside, and Lila and Cora both screamed. Blaze just squinted his eyes shut, waiting for the rumbling to settle down. Once it finally did - after what seemed like several minutes - he opened his eyes and looked towards the door. The Plexiglas window at the top of the door...you couldn't even see the sky anymore. It was covered with pieces of concrete.

They were trapped.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Ohhhhhh, shiizzz! They're trapped in the bomb shelter! What's gonna happen? Will Astro blow them up? Are Tenma and Elefun going to come rescue them? Am I asking too many questions that are probably giving away some plot points?

Astro: *groans and face-palms*

XD Well, leave a review!

P.S. Dystopian means the exact opposite of a Utopia - a paradise. Or in this case, living Hell.


	10. Trapped

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the wait, guys! Me and my friend, Star, are writing a story together, and so that's the one I've been working really hard on. So far, there are four chapters, but I'm not uploading chapter 1 until Chapter 5 is done.

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 9:** **Trapped**

Astro raced across the sky, his red and black flames trailing behind him. With a cold smile on his face, he zoomed down shooting his cannon at a car on the highway, making a loud explosion. He laughed. Destruction to him was like taking a walk; easy as pie!

He felt so alive. He felt that he didn't need anyone in the world except for the Shadow Core. The Shadow Core made him feel as if nothing else was needed _but_ destruction. So much destruction… He felt so _alive!_

In as little as six hours, he had destroyed nearly everything in his path in the city, and truth be told, he was becoming a little bored with Metro City. He wanted to expand his destruction onto the Surface, to make sure that _every_ human being on the Surface – no, in the _world –_ knew fear! Knew that if he didn't grab their respect, he would harm them! As well as the destruction, the police that had been chasing him valiantly gave up on the chase to arrest the boy robot. They had seen that chasing him was futile, and that he was way too powerful. Astro had a feeling that they were planning something. Planning something big.

_Destruction is the only answer,_ the Shadow Core whispered. _Nothing else but destruction. Don't listen to anyone else! They're all liars… I have told you nothing but the truth right from the start, remember that!_

"Yes, I remember," Astro replied, smiling, his arms out in front of him in tight fists as he flew across the sky. "I remember everything."

_Remember how I told you that you're supposed 'friends' are nothing but liars? They hate you. They hated you from the start, but me? I've loved you like a son. Because I am your true father. I created you, no matter what you may think that _doctor_ had anything to do with it._

Astro smirked, firing another round of cannons at a building, causing it to fall down off to the side. "Yes."

_Now, do as you're told, son. See that building over there?_

Astro smirked wider, the Shadow Core making him turn his head to an apartment building that was still intact.

_Destroy it._

Astro deployed all of his laser cannons from his back and from his arms. Without any second thought and without any remorse, Astro fired at the building.

* * *

Lila let out a scream. "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

"Um…we're trapped, it looks like," Blaze said.

"NO DIP!"

"Now, guys, let's not fight…" Cora tried.

"Can we freak out?" Lila asked.

"No, you can't freak out, 'cus if you freak out, _I'll_ freak out!" she whispered.

"Too bad, 'cause I'm _freakin'_ out!" Lila hissed.

Blaze face-palmed. "We have food, we have water… I'm pretty sure we can wait it out until help comes."

"What if help never comes?!" Lila freaked, holding her face with panic. "We'll _die_ here!"

"Help _will_ come, Lila," Cora sighed, taking another sip of her water. "We just have to limit our food and water consumption until it _does_ come."

"But what. If. It. _DOESN'T?"_

Blaze sighed. "Then we're doomed."

"I'd rather be killed by Astro than die slowly of starvation if we run out of food…" Lila whispered.

"Don't say that!" Cora growled. "Astro wouldn't ever kill us. I'm sure his old self would come to light if he tried to do that…"

"I know, but what if it _doesn't?"_ Lila asked. "Or everything we know was a lie? Oh, my God…MY LIFE IS A LIE!"

Blaze face-palmed again. "Lila…stop freaking out."

"OH MY GOSH, I'M FREAKING OUT NOW!" Cora shouted.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Lila screamed.

Blaze sighed, his face bored. "Please stop shouting…"

"I WILL NOT STOP SHOUTING! _YOU_ STOP SHOUTING, BLAZE!"

"I wasn't shouting…" he sighed, sitting on the ground with his hand on his face.

"WATCH US FREAK OUT! IT CAN BE ENTERTAINMENT!" Lila replied.

"Oh, boy…" Blaze groaned, leaning his head back on the wall. _This is gonna take a while…_

"Okay, I'm done now," Lila replied with a derp face.

"…HOORAY!" Blaze said, sarcastically.

"Cora, you done now?" Lila asked.

"I was done before you," she laughed.

"OH… Darrrrrn!" Lila replied. "I'm such a derp."

Blaze looked at the door. Not even a peep of light was leaking in, but that didn't matter. There were built in lights in the shelter, with an underground generator underneath it.

"It's so hot in here. Is there any AC?" Lila asked.

"I think so," Blaze said, getting up and looking around. His eyes focused on the back wall of the room, and he spotted a small box on the wall.

"Oh, what's that?" Lila asked.

"I think it's the AC," Blaze said, walking over to it. Sure enough, it was. He turned it to the 'on' position.

Lila smiled. "That's better. Right, Cora?"

She nodded. "Much better."

"I still wonder how we got trapped in here…" Lila murmured.

"I think it might've been Astro," Cora replied. "I mean, he _is_ the one destroying the city, you know…"

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

_Annnnd here she goes again…_ Blaze sighed.

"OH, MY GOD! HE'S GONNA KILL US ALLLLLLLLL!"

"STOP SCREAMING ALREADY!" Blaze shouted, and Lila immediately shut up. "He's _not_ gonna kill us, okay?! He's got a good heart, I know he does!"

"You said it, Blaze," Cora sighed.

"He might've already killed a few people," Lila said.

"Don't say that!" Cora cried. "Astro would _never_ kill anyone...on purpose!" she added after Lila gave her a look.

"But Shady might," Lila replied.

"Shady?" Blaze echoed with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah! You know, the Shadow Core?"

He face-palmed. "You gave it a _nickname_ now?"

"Well, 'Shadow Core' is such a mouthful…"

Cora shrugged. "She's right."

"See, Blaze?" Lila asked. "I'm _right!"_

He groaned, despite himself. "Well…let's just eat for now, okay? I know you're starving, Lila."

"Yaaaay! Food!" Lila exclaimed.

"Don't eat a lot, remember," Blaze instructed. "We need to keep the food for as long as we possibly can."

"Awwwwwww!"

Blaze picked up a packet of rice and held it up. "We can have rice tonight. Only using one bottle of water and that stove over there. I'll make it for you guys, okay?"

"Okay! We have any barbecue sauce to put on it?" Lila asked.

Blaze looked around the room. "Um…the only sauce I see is mustard and ketchup." He shrugged. "I know you love barbecue sauce on rice, but that's the only sauce we have, Lila."

"Awwww!" Lila pouted.

"Sorry," he chuckled.

"RAAAAH!"

"And she's raging…" Blaze sighed, turning away towards the stove to go make the rice.

Lila looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, Gods of barbecuuuue, send us some saaaauuuuce!"

Blaze ignored his sister and set the rice box on top of the stove, turning around to grab a bottle of water from the ground, and a pan from the closet. Soon enough, he had begun to make dinner for them.

"Wow, Blaze, you can cook?" Cora asked, befuddled.

"No." Lila grinned. "He burns."

"The only thing I _can_ cook is rice," Blaze scoffed, sending a glare in Lila's direction.

"You loooove me! But not in that way, 'cause it'd be creepy."

"Unfortunately," he grumbled, turning back to his cooking.

Lila grinned at him cheekily.

As soon as the rice was finished, Blaze got a couple of bowls and began to dish out their dinner. Handing a bowl to Cora and Lila, he sat down next to them and began to eat his rice.

"Mmm, you were right, Blaze. This rice is good!" Cora said, smiling.

"It _could_ use barbecue sauce," Lila commented, practically sucking hers down.

"So picky..." Blaze sighed, biting into his rice.

* * *

"WE'RE GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEE!" Lila shouted, grabbing her hair and pulling on it.

It had been five days since they had been trapped, and they haven't even been rescued yet. They had heard crashes, rumblings, and tumbles as Astro continued to rampage, but they didn't know what the outside looked like and hopefully they wouldn't.

"ASTRO'S GONNA COME IN HERE, CHEW US UP AND SPIT OUT OUR BONES! AAAAGH!"

Blaze sighed, the palm of his hand resting on the side of his face. _She's been going on and on like this ever since she woke up this morning…_ he thought, glancing over at his sister. She had a look of complete terror on her face. Blaze sighed again, and looked over at Cora. She was asleep on the other side of the room on one of the cots that were in the supply closet. They were down to their last two water bottles and a couple of insta-meals. _I sure as heck hope we get rescued…_

Lila curled up in a fetal position and fell to her side. "We're gonna die… We're gonna die in here."

"Lila…it's alright," Blaze lied. "We're going to be fine. I know it, okay?"

"No, we're not," she replied. She sounded like she was about to cry.

Blaze sighed again and scooted over to her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Lila didn't pull away. "We're going to be fine…" he tried reassuring her. "Elefun and Tenma will come and find us."

"But what if…wh-what i-if…" She broke off, beginning to cry. "What if…th-they're d-dead?"

Blaze frowned. "They're not dead, they're too smart for that."

"B-b-but wh-what if th-they a-are?"

Blaze sighed, looking at the ground and rubbing his sister's shoulders. "I'm sure they're not. Maybe they're somewhere secret making a weapon to use against Astro."

Lila bit her lip. "B-b-b-but…"

"Shhh…it's okay," Blaze comforted. "Don't worry, okay?"

Lila just sniffled and looked at the ground in front of her.

Blaze smiled. "There, see? That's better." Lila hugged him silently.

"Has anyone come to rescue us yet?" the groggy voice of Cora asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes.

Lila burst out sobbing.

Blaze whipped his head around and began rubbing her shoulders again. "Aww, Lila. Come on, it's okay. Please stop crying."

"…Was it something I said?" Cora asked, blinking.

"No," Blaze replied. "She's been like this for awhile."

"Oh," Cora said, getting up from the cot and coming over to crouch next to Lila. "It's okay, Lila," she soothed, rubbing her hand on the girl's back. "We'll be okay."

"I know we aren't!" she sobbed, whipping her head up, tears streaming down her cheeks. "We aren't, okay? I know we're just going to die here!"

Blaze sighed. "Lila—"

"No! Listen! I have a feeling that no one is going to come to our rescue, okay?" she growled while sobbing. "I always trust my feelings!"

"Well, _I_ have a feeling someone is gonna rescue us, okay?" Blaze said calmly.

"No one's gonna come," Lila whispered. "No one."

Blaze sighed in defeat. It was tiring trying to keep someone calm when they wouldn't ever calm down. _It's no use…_ he thought, looking back at Cora.

"People _will_ come…right?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes.

Blaze opened his mouth to answer, but stopped and turned his head towards the door. _What was that?_ he wondered. _I just heard…something. It was very soft…but I heard it. It sounded like…someone…_

"…Blaaaaaaze…? …Liiilaaaa…? Coooorraaaaa…?"

"Did you hear that?" Blaze asked, looking back at the two of his companions.

"Quit making up stuff," Lila growled, sobbing.

"No, seriously, I heard something!"

"Stop getting our hopes up!" Lila hissed. "You know it's not gonna—"

"Blaaaaaze! Lilaaaaa…? Cora…!"

"There it is again!" Blaze whined, pointing at the door.

"Seriously, stop," Lila growled.

"No…I heard it too!" Cora gasped, getting up and running to the door. "Over here!" she screamed, pounding on the door.

Blaze and Lila looked at each other, Blaze with a smug look. Lila frowned. "Now you're just showing off…" she muttered.

"Is it Astro?" Cora asked no one.

"It sounds like his dad!" Blaze nearly shouted, getting up and running over to the door as well. "Hey! We're in here! Help!" he shouted.

"HELP US PLEAAASEEE!" Lila cried, pounding on the door.

"Blaze? Lila! Cora?!" Tenma shouted again.

"HELP!" all three of them shouted.

"Children?" Elefun's voice sounded through the door close by. "Are you in there?"

"Yes!" Lila cried. "We're _saved!_ NOW GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"Language, my dear," Elefun said through the door. Crunching noises sounded outside.

"Stand back!" Tenma shouted.

"What'd he say?" Cora asked.

"He said STAND BACK!" Lila shouted, pushing us all back.

Blaze nearly tripped over a water bottle on the ground, but he regained his composure. A whining noise was heard, and he smiled. _We're saved!_

_BOOM!_ Rubble went flying everywhere. Lila, Cora, and Blaze all covered their faces and screamed. Once the rubble settled, Blaze opened his eyes slowly. He gasped. "I can see outside! …Annnnd it's nighttime… Figures…"

Lila ran outside. "AIR!"

"Now hold on, children!" Elefun stuttered. "You need to come with us."

"What? Why?" Cora asked, her hands on her hips as all of them stepped outside.

"We have something to show you, but it…can't be shown here," Tenma said, his eyes darting around the sky. "He's watching."

"He who?" Lila asked, spinning around outside, her arms outstretched.

Blaze face-palmed. "Astro…?"

"Oh, yeah!" Lila grinned. "BUT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! FREEEEEEDOMMMMMMMM!"

"Lila, sweetie, keep it down, please," Elefun tried calmly. "Or else—"

"YAAAAAAAAAAY!" she shouted.

"Um…or else what?" Blaze asked.

A sudden explosion caused them all to freeze instantly. Blaze turned his head to see black fire a few meters away.

"Or else _he'll_ show up…" Tenma finished.

"Oopsies!" Lila replied.

Astro swooped down straight from a dark cloud up above the destroyed city, a crooked smile on his face and his black and red flames trailing behind him. "I've got you now!" he laughed, his weapons instantly popping out of his back and from his arms.

"EVERYONE MOVE!" Elefun shouted.

And they ran.

A cannon blast to the side nearly knocked Blaze over, but he kept running, trying to keep his eyes trained on every single person in the group at once, but it was nearly impossible. Another blast behind Lila made her squeak in surprise and trip over some concrete drabbles on the ground.

Cora gasped. "Lila!"

Blaze scooted his feet against the ground, turning around and stopping to a halt. "Lila, no!" he shouted, arm outstretched.

Lila shakily got to her knees and reached out to her brother.

Astro swooped in closer, a cold laugh echoing through the night sky.

"LILAAAAA!" Blaze screamed, running towards his sister, tears beginning in his eyes.

Time seemed to slow down as Blaze ran towards her, and as Astro got ever so closer to his victory. And just when all seemed lost...

Astro suddenly stopped in midair, black and blue electricity crawling all over him. "AHHHH!" he screamed, grabbing for his head, his eyes squinted shut.

Blaze reached his sister as time began to speed up for him, helping her up and back to safety. "What's wrong with Astro?!" Cora cried.

Lila sent a terrified look at the malfunctioning robot, then to Tenma. Back at Astro, back at Tenma.

"Now, Elefun! This is the only chance we'll get!" Tenma shouted.

"Chance for _what?"_ Blaze nearly shouted.

Elefun took out a special weapon and flipped a small switch on the side, holding it up and pointing it at Astro.

"What're you doing?!" Cora screamed.

"He's in a split state. Notice the black _and_ blue lightning?" Tenma said.

Cora nodded. "Yeah…?"

"That means he's battling the Shadow Core, and it's also the best time to test out our new weapon. So _now!"_ Tenma ordered, nodding at Elefun.

A slightly louder whining noise came from this weapon. A bright blue dot began at the tip of the gun, steadily growing. Once it was 'fully charged' it gave a little spurt, and didn't fire. Elefun smacked at it desperately.

"...Was that supposed to happen?" Lila wondered.

"No!" Tenma growled, grabbing the gun from Elefun and shaking it. "It was supposed to fire!"

"Kill them!" Astro growled. "No!" he screamed. "I'm not going to hurt them!" His eyes opened, and Blaze noticed that they were split in half; one iris was dark gray with a red pupil, and the other was his normal milky-brown with a normal pupil. "Hurt them! They deserve to die!" he growled. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO HURT ANYONE ELSE!" The lightning intensified, and Astro threw his hands next to him, his fists balled. "AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Tenma gave the gun one last desperate smack, and suddenly the blue light shot to the tip. "Yes!" Tenma laughed, pointing it at his robot son. "GO TO HELL, SHADOW CORE!"

Astro twitched, convulsing as his head turned towards Tenma. "D-D-D-D-Dad?"

A tear left the doctor's eye as he shut them tightly. "I hope this works…" he whispered as the gun fired.

Lila closed her eyes tightly, as did Cora and Blaze, as they awaited the loud booming noise or explosion that would surely come.

Instead of an explosion…

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Astro screamed.

Blaze opened his eyes to see Astro engulfed in the blue light from the gun, looking like he was struggling. "Wha…what…?"

Suddenly, Astro's limbs spread outward as he screamed louder. A bright white light engulfed everyone, and they all covered their eyes. Once the light was gone, Blaze looked up and gasped.

Floating there…

In the air…

Were two Astro's.

* * *

**Author's Note:** OMFG! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT. Okay, I wrote this, and even _I_ didn't see this coming!

Review!


	11. Shadow

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait, guys. Hehe...this took a while to get out. But it's finally here! I hope you enjoy! Warnings of foul language...sadness...evilness...yadayadayada...

* * *

**Chapter 10: Shadow**

"What—but—huh?!" Blaze stuttered, looking at both Astro's.

The two Astro's were staring at each other in surprise and utter disbelief. One of them was wearing a black t-shirt with the white stripe on the sleeve that he _had_ been wearing before and dark jeans, while the other one was wearing a white t-shirt with red stripes and musky-dark greenish brown jeans.

Lila stared at them in shock and horror before fainting.

"Lila!" Cora cried, running over to help Blaze's sister.

Suddenly, both Astro's summoned their cannons, but the 'good' Astro's cannons were back to normal. The 'bad' Astro—however—had all the weapons from before. "Who are you?!" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing!" the other one growled.

"You tell me first!"

"No, you tell _me!"_

The other Astro scowled. "Tell me _now, _dammit!"

"The real Astro would never swear like that!" Cora called up.

Both Astro's turned towards her, and the 'bad' Astro began laughing. "Haha, right. Just call me Shadow, then."

"Was it supposed to do that?" Blaze asked Tenma. "The gun thing."

"Well, er…yes _and_ no. The atom splitter—no, mind you, it doesn't actually split atoms, that would be bad—was designed to split Astro away from the Shadow Core. It was _supposed_ to make the Shadow Core come out, but…it kinda…backfired I guess…" He scratched his head.

Blaze sighed. "You guys are idiots. Right, Lila? Oh, yeah… She, uh, fainted. Right."

"I can't believe I ever listened to you!" Astro growled. "You're nothing but bad news!"

"Seriously?" Shadow retorted. "I gave you more respect than you ever had in your pathetic little life! Even more than _Toby_ had!"

Astro flinched. "But at least I still had people to love me, unlike _you!"_

Shadow growled, firing his cannons at Astro. He quickly dodged them flying around in loop-de-loops. Shadow began laughing maniacally.

"Quick, get the children out of here!" Elefun ordered.

Blaze and Cora picked up Lila—she was heavy for someone so skinny—and looked at Elefun for further orders.

"Follow us to the shelter, children!" he ordered, as the battle between robots ensued, running away from them, along with Tenma, who was scared out of his wits.

"Cowards," Shadow snorted.

"Don't call my friends _cowards!"_ Astro growled, bursting forward and clashing together with Shadow. They grabbed each other's hands, pushing each other back with snarls on their faces.

"But they _are!_ Just… Like… _YOU!"_ Shadow sneered.

Astro grunted, being pushed back. His eyes widened as Shadow's arm quickly changed into a cannon. "AH!" he shouted as the cannon fired, causing him to fly backwards into a building.

"Ha!" Shadow laughed. "So weak!"

Astro struggled to get to his feet. "Don't call me weak," he growled, holding onto his arm.

"What're you gonna do? Hmm?" Shadow asked with a laugh. "Cry me a river," he snorted. "You're just a clone of a human who had much more potential than you could ever have."

"Shut _up!"_ Astro shouted, shooting his cannons at Shadow. Caught off guard, one cannon blast hit him square in the chest, sending him straight down to the road below, making a large grate in the road.

"You'll pay for that," Shadow snarled. He shot up into the sky and charged straight at Astro. Astro gasped, Shadow flying straight at his chest and bringing him down with him straight into the road, making a large indentation. He began punching Astro's face, his head going side to side with the punches. "This isn't all I'm capable of, you little shit!"

"AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!" Astro shouted each time that he was punched.

Shadow's arms turned back into cannons and he flew up into the sky, firing round after round at him, pushing him deeper into the ground.

"I HOPE YOU RUST ON THE SURFACE WITH THE REST OF THE SCRAP METAL!"

After a moment or two, Astro burst through the ground and bonked Shadow over the head with a long pole from under the city. Shadow snarled at him, charging up his cannons.

With a grunt, Astro quickly smacked the cannons that popped out of his back with the pole, making them fall off and to the ground.

Shadow's jaw dropped before scowling and getting his _own_ pole. Astro flew away from Shadow as he came back after him with a pole of his own. "You're going to _PAY,_ YOU LITTLE _SHIT!"_

"CRAP!" Astro yelled, dodging Shadow's attacks.

Shadow continued jabbing the pole at Astro. "Why won't you DIE?! _DIE, DIE, DIE!"_

Astro screamed, both from he jab of the pole into his side, and falling straight into a wrecked building. He destroyed the building, cutting it straight in half and causing it to fall over.

Shadow landed in front of Astro and threw the pole off to the side. "Hehehe…!" he laughed, summoning his arm cannons and pointing them at Astro's head. "Time to die, you worthless piece of trash."

Astro thought quickly, jutting his feet into Shadow's chest and summoning his rockets, blasting him away from him.

"GAH!" Shadow fell into the nearby sidewalk, scowling and snarling. "YOU WILL REGRET THAT!"

"Keep saying that, I think it's working!" Astro laughed, floating above the ground with his arms crossed.

Shadow shot up from the cement and aimed a punch directly to Astro's rib cage. Astro flew high into the air, the breath knocked out of him. Shadow shot straight up at Astro, grabbed him, and flew straight down into the pavement below, making a hole about fifty feet deep and sixty feet wide. Shadow aimed more punches at him, this time to his face. But each punch, Astro dodged by moving his head from side to side.

"RAAAAAAAH!" Shadow growled in rage.

Astro finally punched back, but Shadow dodged his punches. Finally, Astro decided to kick Shadow in the ribcage. Letting out a huff and holding onto his stomach, Shadow fell over. Astro flew up and away. "What do I do…?" he whispered, looking back down and seeing Shadow slowly getting to his feet.

Shadow's eyes flashed black, and he threw his head back. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed, black fire erupting around him.

Astro's eyes widened. "Uh-oh!"

Shadow flew up after him, so fast he was a blur and before ramming into Astro's chest.

"Oof!" Astro grunted, being flown back into a building, breaking through the windows and landing in a pile of office supplies. Struggling to get back up, Shadow was soon looming over him, the black flame around him betting larger and darker.

"I will make you pay," Shadow snarled, stepping closer and closer.

Astro began crawling backwards, eyes wide, his limbs wobbling as his strength began to leave him. Shadow gave him a cruel grin, turning one of his arms into a sleek, black canon.

Astro closed his eyes. _This is my destiny…_ he thought. _I guess I _was_ meant to die in the first place… Goodbye, everyone…_

Shadow's cannon let off black electricity as it charged up. He let out a maniacal laugh…

And fired.

* * *

_BOOOOOOOM!_

Blaze whipped around, seeing a large black explosion go off in the distance. _What was that?!_ he thought, eyes wide. _And how can explosions be black?!_ Blaze gasped as realization dawned on him. _Oh no! Astro!_

"Guys, we have to go back!" he yelled.

"What? Why?" Cora asked from beside him.

"Did you _not_ just hear and see that?" Blaze said, pointing at the smoke cloud. "Astro's in trouble!"

"He can handle it!" Tenma growled. _"We_ have to get away from here!"

Blaze did not look happy with this arrangement. "NO! We _have_ to go help him! He could be hurt badly for all we know!" Blaze growled.

"But what're we gonna do with Lila?" Cora asked, still holding onto the girl.

Blaze frowned. "I don't know. Maybe Elefun and Tenma should stay with her while we go help."

"What're you gonna use, your _looks?"_ Cora exclaimed angrily.

"Hey! I can use a weapon!" Blaze turned to the two doctors. "Right?"

Tenma sighed and handed Blaze the weapon that blew down the door from before. "I see there's no point in arguing with you, kid," he sighed.

He grinned at it. "This is so _cool!"_ Blaze exclaimed, looking at the gun left and right.

"Mind you, it's only got one shot left, so if you're planning on something, make it an effort," Tenma said.

Blaze looked at Cora. "You coming with me?"

"Of course I will!" she scoffed, gently handing Lila to Elefun and Tenma. "You think I wouldn't?"

"I thought you may have wanted to stay away from the danger."

"I do, but…" She sighed. "I wanna see if Astro is okay."

"Good enough. Tenma, got anymore weapons?"

"No, all we have is the atom splitter, but…I'd advise not to use it anymore," he chuckled.

Blaze smiled, determined, holding up the gun. "Let's do this!"

Cora nodded and ran off with Blaze towards the explosion.

* * *

"Ohhhh…" Astro groaned, slowly opening his eyes and holding his head. Well, that's what he was _trying_ to do anyway, until he realized that he couldn't move at all. "Wh-what's going on?!" he shouted, trying to move.

"How do you like it?" Shadow growled, walking slowly up to him. "To be unable to move?"

"What'd you do to me?!" Astro shouted, struggling.

He just laughed. "Foolish boy, I just disabled your movement circuitry so you'll be unable to move from now on," he replied, shrugging. "A really effective weapon, if you ask me."

"What?! How?!" Astro shouted.

"You'll never get anywhere with _that_ tone of voice," Shadow jeered.

Astro sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine. How did you do that?" he asked.

"My cannon blast," he laughed, waving his cannon in the air beside him. "It disables movement if I use it in a particular way. You jelly?" He grinned.

"…Jelly?" Astro asked.

"Jealous! Jeez, don't you know _anything?"_ he growled.

Astro rolled his eyes. "You coulda just said 'jealous', you know."

"I am _above_ your petty words!"

"Jelly is a form of jam," Astro replied, raising an eyebrow. "You just called me jam."

"Well—you—" He broke off, frowning. "Shut up!" he growled, smacking Astro's face. "Like I said, your definitions don't apply to me!"

Trying desperately to move once again, Astro growled in frustration as his arms and legs were still—what seemed like—stuck to the floor below him.

Shadow gave him a smart-ass smirk. "How you enjoyin' it?" he snickered. "Hope you like it, because you're stayin' that way for a while."

"I'll get out of this mess, just you watch!" Astro shouted in his face.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude." Flying into the air, Shadow gave him a smirk, a salute, and flew off out of the building.

"Come back here!" Astro shouted, struggling once more.

* * *

Blaze scrambled over a fallen piece of concrete, hiding behind another like a secret agent. Cora followed after him. "Do you even know where you're going? There's smoke everywhere. You can't tell which one it was!"

"I remember which one it was," he replied, running out from his cover and over to another concrete slab.

"Which is…?"

"The biggest one. Over there," he replied, pointing the gun towards a big, billowing smoke cloud that still towered above the rest, and wasn't even one hundred feet away.

"Oh."

"Mmhmm," Blaze hummed, hurrying over to another post with Cora close behind.

"So what're you planning on doing once we get there?" Cora asked.

Blaze turned, opening his mouth, and closed it. "I have no idea," he replied, jumping over to another concrete slab.

"…Are you _serious?"_

"I'm coming up with a plan as I go!" he huffed.

"…You _idiot,"_ Cora huffed.

"Hey, at least I don't get overly dramatic like a girl," Blaze scoffed.

"What exactly is _that_ supposed to mean?!" Cora snapped.

"Girls have a tendency to be overly dramatic," Blaze continued, rolling his eyes at Cora. "Like you and Lila. You two are alike in _sooo_ many ways."

"Hey!" Cora frowned. "I'm not overdramatic!" Blaze rolled his head to her and gave her a look that said otherwise. Cora laughed hesitantly. "Uh…yeah, okay. Sure…! Hehe…" Then she frowned. "Let's just find Astro instead of sitting on our butts doing nothing but arguing," Cora deadpanned

Blaze face-palmed. "Fine…!" he groaned.

"Good! I'd rather find him than sit here arguing about how hormonal girls are."

"Um..." Blaze shook his head. "Whatever. Let's just go then."

Suddenly, Shadow appeared in front of them, and they both gasped. In a panic, Blaze shot the gun at Shadow, but it missed him.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID, YOU _IDIOT!"_ Cora screamed.

"I told you girls were hormonal…hehe…" Blaze wilted under her stare.

"Oooh, what do we have here?" Shadow smirked, looking at Cora. "Ya know, since I'm half Astro, I can understand why he likes you."

Cora gave him a disgusted look. "Pervert! I am a half a mind away from slapping you in the face!"

Shadow deadpanned, giving her a bored look. "Let's get this over with, shall we?" Suddenly without warning, he swooped in and grabbed Cora around the waist, holding her arms behind her back and picked her up off the ground.

"AH! WHAT'RE YOU DOING, LET ME _GOOO!"_ she screamed.

"Cora!" Blaze shouted, his arm outstretched towards her as they flew off towards a tall building. "NOOO!"

* * *

Astro gasped as Shadow returned with Cora in his arms. "What're you doing? Put her down!"

"That's what _I_ said!" Cora exclaimed, squirming in Shadow's grasp.

Shadow gave Astro a smirk. "Since you're so in love with this girl, I'm gonna make you suffer."

Astro's eyes widened as he said the word 'love', but he growled anyway, "How would that be?"

He laughed coldly. "You're going to watch me kill her in front of you."

"WHOA, WHAT?!" Cora yelled.

"I know. It was stupid of me to tell you guys my evil plan, but I can't help but brag!" Shadow flashed them a toothy grin. "And before you ask, sweetheart, I disabled his movements," Shadow told Cora, looking at her while she struggled.

"HEY! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!" Astro shouted, straining to move.

"Hehe, calm yourself, lover boy," Shadow laughed cruelly. "The show's just beginning. I _know_ you're just _dying_ to watch!"

"NO, I'M NOT. LET HER _GOOO!"_ Astro shouted, eyes closed, a tear sliding down his cheek.

Cora couldn't help but letting out a few sobs and tears as she watched Astro cry.

Shadow jostled Cora back and forth slightly. "You ready to go, dear?"

"Don't call me that!" she growled between sobs.

He chuckled slightly. "Of course, of course. Sorry." Shadow smirked, floating over to Astro. "But first thing's first. He's gotta watch me drop you."

"WHAAAT!" Cora blanched.

Shadow picked up Astro by the front of his shirt and threw him towards the edge with his head over the side. While in that position, he was unable to even look up. He then flew over to him, his hands tightly wrapped around Cora's neck. "Now… Should I strangle her? Blow her up? Maybe I should stab her! A slow, painful demise of bleeding to death! That sounds nice…"

Astro let out sobs, tears falling far to the ground below him, his eyes closed. Cora was also crying, whether it was from dying or losing him, he didn't know.

Shadow smiled. "I've decided. I'm going to just throw her over the edge. She'll break all the bones in her body and slowly die." He laughed evilly, holding Cora over the edge.

Astro tried looking up, but his eyes were blurry from the tears, and all he could see were Cora's feet dangling through the air.

And then Shadow just unceremoniously dropped her. No banter, no sarcasm… No grand speech about how painfully she was going to die. He just released his grip and dropped her over the edge.

Astro shut his eyes closed, tears blinding him. Cora screamed…and then a _thud._ Astro didn't even want to open his eyes. He was shaking all over, tears falling—probably onto Cora's body down below, he didn't know.

"Well, now that _that's_ taken care of…" Shadow smiled to himself, wiping off his hands in front of himself. "That was easier than I thought it would be!" Shadow cackled. "What? No comments? Ah, I see. Oh, well, it was fitting. Her death was as her life. Not special, boring, _uninteresting!_ At least she had a nice body, but by now she's probably suffocating in the rubble below us!"

Suddenly, Astro's eyes opened quickly, blazing with a bright blue fire. But Shadow didn't notice.

"Yup! _Very_ easy, indeed. She barely put up a fight. It would've been a lot more fun if she had, but like it would've made any difference." He shrugged and put a finger on his chin, looking up. "She was feisty, if I remember correctly. Too bad she died a crybaby, right?" he cackled.

"You…you…killed…Cora…" Astro growled through clenched teeth.

"Yup! Like I said, it was very easy," Shadow chuckled, turning back to the robot boy. "And there was _nothing_ you could've done."

"I…_loved…_her…!" he growled again.

"So? You're a robot. You can't 'love'. Especially someone that…wimpy." Shadow grinned. "Though she _was_ pretty hot, but I doubt you're 'anatomically correct'. Hehe!"

"You're _wrong!"_ he snapped, suddenly propping himself up on his hands, his eyes blazing. "I have _feelings!_ I can _love!"_

"H-how are you…?!" Shadow blanched, stepping back as Astro slowly got to his feet.

"I can be _sad!_ I can be _happy!"_ he continued. A bright blue aura began flowing around Astro, and Shadow's eyes grew wide. "And I can _hate!_ I most definitely hate _you,_ you _good for nothing…_PIECE OF _JUNK!"_ Astro shouted, whipping around, revealing his bright blue-flamed eyes.

"…Oh, shit," was all Shadow had time to say before Astro landed a well-aimed punch to his face. Shadow went flying farther than ever before, landing all the way out on the Surface! Astro flew over to him faster than he had ever flown. He didn't know what was going on with him, but he didn't care. Shadow had killed Cora, he had to die.

Astro stood over Shadow, who had made a trench in the junk pile where he had landed. His eyes were blazing with fury as he switched his arms over to cannons, which were now the same high-powered cannons that Shadow had, only these were used for good instead of evil. "Say goodbye, Shadow!"

* * *

**A/N:** *is silent* Holy...SHITAKE MUSHROOM. Astro be mad guise. :o And poor Cora! :( Would you guys be mad if I said there was only 2 more chapters left, including the epilogue? Hehe... Yeah, sorry. But I hope you enjoyed! Review!


	12. The Final Round

**Chapter 11: The Final Round**

The blast of energy that exploded from Astro's cannon was so powerful, it forced Shadow underneath all of the junk and it made him keep going and going and going… "RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Astro shouted as the blast continued into the hole that Shadow had disappeared into. Finally, Astro cut off his cannon and stopped, smoke coming from the tube. He looked down into the hole, which was a black nothingness. He scowled. "Looks like he's gone… But I can't be too sure..." he mumbled, still staring into the hole. Suddenly, the ground began rumbling underneath his feet. "An earthquake?" he wondered aloud, but knew it wasn't.

Shadow burst through the junk, his black halo larger than before, and his eyes burning with a black flame. By now, Astro's blue halo had slowly died off, but you could see it very faintly around his body. "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" Shadow shouted, his voice ringing with distortion as he pointed at Astro.

Astro gasped and turned to run. He needed to buy himself some time to let his cannons recharge.

Shadow burst towards him, laughing deeply and coldly. Astro hopped into the air quickly, flying as fast as he could away from the evil him. But Shadow was faster. Oh,_so_ much faster! He flew below poor Astro and grabbed onto his legs.

Astro let out a yelp as Shadow dragged him down, and spun him around quickly in a circle, making Astro's head spin. Suddenly, Shadow let go of his legs and caused Astro to fly into the bridge, bonking his head into the large iron pole and falling to the ground.

Shadow gave him a wicked, metallic laugh before flying to him, grabbing his head and repeatedly bashing it against the pole.

Astro could feel his vision blurring as his head was repeatedly smacked against the iron rod. Shadow finally stopped and Astro dropped back to the ground on his hands and knees. He felt a light tap on his shoulder and looked up slightly, but was instantly met with a fist to his face, sending him flying back into the pole and causing the pole to break in half.

"I am going to make you _suffer,"_ Shadow hissed.

"You...already said that..." Astro coughed out, holding onto his stomach, one eye closed as he looked up at his evil twin, who's black halo was getting larger by the minute.

Shadow kicked his stomach. "DON'T STATE THE OBVIOUS!"

"Oof!" Astro grunted, doubling over and wincing as pain wracked throughout his whole body. Shadow picked him up by his neck, digging his nails into his artificial flesh. "AHHH!" Astro choked out, scrambling for a hold on Shadow's hand.

"I'm going to crush your neck," he laughed, smirking. "And when I do, you'll slowly shut down until you cannot be saved. Don't be sad, though," Shadow cackled. "You'll be reunited with your precious Cora! Like Romeo and Juliet."

At the mention of Cora's name, Astro looked up at Shadow with a snarl on his face, his blue halo intensifying once more. "YOU KILLED HER!" he raged, eyes burning. "YOU KILLED CORA!"

"I think we've already established that," Shadow replied dryly, giving him a bored look.  
Suddenly, Astro's blue halo intensified much larger than Shadow's and he began floating into the air without the use of his rockets. Shadow's eyes widened and he backed up slightly.

"Oh, shit," Shadow stated dumbly. "Again."

Astro opened his mouth and screamed, blue waves of energy exploding from his mouth and hitting Shadow, causing him to hold onto his ears, close his eyes, and fall to his knees. Astro's scream was both screeching loud and powerful altogether.

"OH, MY GOD, _SHUT THE HELL UP!"_ Shadow yelled. As soon as he shouted that, Astro's scream grew stronger, causing Shadow to lose his balance and tumble over and over. "STOP IT!" Shadow yelled again.

Shadow's halo was slowly disappearing around him as Astro continued to yell, the blue waves of energy growing stronger and stronger. His evil twin's ears began letting off puffs of smoke, and he fell over fully, laying on the ground on his back. Shadow found himself unable to move. "What…? What did he do to me?!" he mumbled to himself.

Astro's scream cut off suddenly, and he fell to the ground on his side, eyes closed and his halo dying off. Shadow struggled to move, but was unable to. "HEY! WAKE UP, YOU PIECE OF GARBAGE!" he shouted, straining. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

But Astro was out cold.

* * *

Blaze puffed back to where he had left Elefun, Tenma, and his sister. Seeing that they weren't there, he growled to himself. _Great, where'd they go?!_ "TENMA! ELEFUN!" Blaze yelled. No answer. "TENMAAAAAAA! ELEFUUUUUN!" Once again, silence. "Tenma? Elefun? ...Lila...? Someone, please answer!"

He sighed to himself, plopping down on a slab of concrete with a huff. _I'm lost...great. First, I lose Cora, and now I lose myself..._ "WHERE IS EVERYONE?!" he yelled out.

"Blaze...?"

He whipped his head to the left, but there was no one there. He frowned and turned back to look at the ground in front of him. "Great, now I'm hearing things..."

"Blaze!"

This time the voice was to the right. Blaze turned his eyes and looked out of the corner of his eye, but frowned again when there was—yet again—nothing or no one there. He planted the palm of his hand on his chin and stared straight ahead grumpily.

"DAMMIT, BLAZE! DOWN HERE, IDIOT I HAVE FOR A BROTHER!"

Blaze whipped his head back to the left, seeing a hand sticking out of some rubble. "Lila?" he murmured with a raised eyebrow.

"YESSSSS! Now get down here!" she hissed.

"What are you doing in the rubble?" he asked.

"I'm _not_ in the rubble!"

Blaze slowly got to his feet and went over to the hand that was waving wildly. When he reached the hand, he peered in the crack, seeing a dark shape lit up by bright blue eyes. "What're you doing?" he laughed.

"Just—FRIGGIN GET DOWN HERE!" she growled impatiently.

"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.

She pointed her hand over to Blaze's left, and Blaze turned, seeing a storm drain underneath a diagonal piece of rubble that was propped up far enough for someone to get inside. "Are Elefun and Tenma in there too?" he asked.

"Yeah, just hurry up," she ordered.

_I wonder how Elefun fit in there..._ he chuckled to himself, but shook his head. _Never mind that..._ Blaze hurried over to the storm grate, tugging at it until it ripped out of its original place. He set it aside and crawled inside slowly, trying to find his footing on the ladder.

"Over here!" Lila yelled when he climbed down fully.

Blaze placed his feet in front of him cautiously, not sure what to expect in the damp, dark hole that was the storm drain. He glanced around him, unable to see anything past the storm drain opening.

"BOO!"

"AHHHHH!" Blaze shouted, slapping whatever was in front of him.

"OW, _IDIOT!"_ Lila growled, punching him in the shoulder.

Blaze did a double-take, realizing that it was his sister in front of him as he saw the glow of blue eyes. "Sorry..." he mumbled. "You scared me."

"I meant to," Lila growled. "Can you see anything?"

"Not really," Blaze sighed, rubbing his shoulder.

"You'll get used to it," she grunted, turning around and heading down the tunnel.

"Um..." Blaze broke off, looking after her. "If I may ask..._why_ are you guys in a storm drain?"

"Because it's our shelter," Elefun said from somewhere in front of Blaze.

"Yep!" Lila chirped. "We're being cowards and hiding until one of them die."

Tenma sighed. "We aren't being _cowards,_ Lila. We're just hiding, okay? Astro can handle it."

"Speaking of Astro," Lila began slowly. "What happened? And where's Cora?"

"Uh.. Well..." Blaze started.

"Go onnnnnnnn!" Lila replied. "Where's my bestie?"

Blaze swallowed nervously. "Um...she...kinda..."

"Yesssss?"

"Got...taken...hehe..."

_"WHAT!?"_ Lila screamed. _"HOW?! HOW DID SHE GET TAKEN?! TELL ME!"_

"Shadow took her...?" Blaze said in a small voice.

"AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN _TRY_ TO GO GET HER BACK?! YOU...YOU _FOOL!"_

Blaze flinched back. "I-I'm sorry..."

Lila took a threatening step towards him, her face beat red with rage.

"Children, please!" Elefun tried.

"YOU LET OUR ONLY FRIEND GET TAKEN BY A _CLONE!"_

Lila ran at Blaze with a cry of rage, but Tenma jumped in between the two, and held Lila back. "Please! Stop fighting! Now's not the time!"

"But Cora was _taken!"_ Lila screamed. "HE COULD BE DOING THINGS TO HER, FOR ALL WE KNOW!"

Blaze rolled his eyes, but still felt bad for Cora. If he had been more careful, and maybe more focused on the mission, then maybe Cora wouldn't have been taken, and maybe he would have hit his target. "It was an accident. I didn't know Shadow was into kidnapping!" Blaze yelled back.

"HE'S _EVIL._ WHAT DO YOU _THINK_ HE DOES, DRINK TEA AND COMMENT ABOUT THE WEATHER?!" Lila shouted, her arms outstretched towards Blaze in an 'I'm-gonna-kill-you-when-you-fall-asleep' type of way.

Blaze sighed. _This is gonna take a while..._

* * *

"HEY! Wake up!" Shadow grunted, still struggling to move his limbs. Astro still didn't budge from the ground. "Goddammit," Shadow muttered. "HEY, LOVERBOY! GET THE HELL UP! ...Are you dead? LISTEN TO ME!"

Astro let out a small groan, his eyes blinking open. "What happened...?" he whispered.

"FINALLY! You're up! Good, now you can tell me what ya did to me!" Shadow shouted.

"But I don't know what I did..."

"Ass."

Frowning, Astro pushed himself up to look over at Shadow. "Stop with the language, already. You're not cool!"

"I don't cuss to be cool. It's a habit!"

Astro rolled his eyes and slowly got up into a sitting position. "So...what exactly did I do?"

"I can't move," Shadow muttered. "Oh, the irony. Revenge must be sweet, eh?"

"I noticed that part," Astro grumbled. "But _how_ did it happen?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't asking _you!"_

"WHAT DID I DO TO MAKE YOU LIKE THAT?!" Astro shouted.

"YOU SCREAMED, OKAY?!"

Astro frowned. "I...screamed?"

"After I told you to shut up."

Astro rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't have listened to you anyway, if I had known what was going on."

"You didn't know what you were doing? Lame."

"Quit calling me _LAME!"_ Astro shouted, his blue halo returning.

Shadow's eyes widened, but he immediately frowned. "Don't try anything, I can still hurt you without moving!"

"How?!" Astro hissed out, his eyes flashing with blue flame.

Shadow's eyes flashed black and red, and Astro's body suddenly went numb. Astro fell to the ground, unable to move once more. "HEY!" Astro growled, struggling.

"Haha! Now neither of us can move." Shadow grinned.

"…So it's a stalemate." Astro stated.

"DAMMIT!"

Astro heaved a sigh. _If I'm supposed to defeat Shadow, how am I gonna do this?!_ he growled to himself. _I can't move... He killed Cora, too!_ Suddenly, Astro's brown irises turned a bright blue.

"I guess we're stuck, huh?" Shadow chuckled, looking up at the sky, not noticing Astro was slowly floating into the air, his blue halo returning. "Payback's a bitch, eh?"

_"DON'T EVEN TRY ANYMORE,"_ Astro shouted, voice distorted.

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts, and looked towards Astro. "Oh, crap..." he growled, struggling to move.

_"YOUR FATE HAS BEEN SEALED."_ And with that, Astro's arms turned into cannons, but these were different than the ones he had before.

Shadow instantly knew what was going to happen. "NOOOOOOOO!" Shadow screamed as Astro blasted him with the cannons. They didn't seem to be blasting him, they were sucking _inward._

Suddenly, Shadow's form depleted, being sucked inside Astro's cannons, leaving behind the empty shell of an orb. Astro switched his cannons back into arms, and threw his head back, letting out a loud scream, a blue beam of light shooting up into the sky, followed by a shockwave, causing the junk along the Surface to ripple.

* * *

Back in the storm drain, Blaze looked up suddenly as he heard a loud explosion. He peered out through the cracks of the grate and gasped. A blue beam of light was shooting into the sky. He glanced upward, A dark blue and light blue cloud was slowly swirling in the sky, and from the middle came the beam of light. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.

* * *

Astro stopped screaming, fell to his knees, and passed out on the ground.

* * *

_A girl huffed and stomped over to them. She had fiery orange hair, pale blue eyes and a little bit of freckles on her cheeks and nose. "Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaze! I told you not to talk to strangers! The tarots told me they were baaaaaaad news today!"_  
_  
Blaze rolled his eyes. "Lila, stop complaining." He then turned to Astro, who had a look of complete bewilderment on his face. "This is the famous Astro, you know...the one who saved Metro City?"_

_Astro shyly scratched the back of his head. "I'm not_ that _famous..."_

_"Yeah, you are," Blaze replied, laughing._

* * *

_Astro glanced back from the corner of his eye. "I don't have a problem..."_

_Blaze crossed his arms. "Well, there's obviously something up. You disappear for the rest of the school day yesterday, and today we find you in a_ closet _being all gloomy and crap."_

_Astro just shrugged, continuing towards his class. "I don't know," he replied._

_Lila frowned and turned to Blaze._

"Never _underestimate the cards again."_

* * *

_"I asked where your Core was." Lila smiled. "Your stomach?" she guessed._

_Astro smiled and shook his head, chuckling a little. "No, guess again."_

_Blaze answered for Lila. "Is it in your head?"_

_Astro laughed. "No. Lila? Any more guesses?"_

_"Abs?" she joked._

_"I don't have any abs," Astro laughed. "Fine, do you give up, Lila?"_

_"Yes." she replied in defeat._

_He laughed. "It's where your heart is." Astro pointed at his chest on the right side. "Right here."_

_Lila face-palmed. "Well… Can't believe I didn't guess that."_

_"Haha, loser," Blaze laughed. "That was my next guess!"_

* * *

_"Dr. Elefun!" Astro laughed, running over to the stout man and embracing him in a hug as well. "Thank you!"_

_"Metro City's hero should not be locked up," Elefun said, smiling, repeating his father's earlier words._

_Astro looked from Elefun to Tenma. "Thank you. Both of you. You don't know how much this means to me."_

_Tenma smiled and hugged his son, silently picking him up in his arms._

* * *

_Lila smiled. "The demonic aura is gone."_

* * *

Astro's eyes fluttered open slowly, returned back to their milky brown color. The wind was blowing steadily, causing some blossoms to fall to the ground. Astro glanced to his right, seeing the culprit of the blossoms. It was cherry blossom tree. He smiled at it, slowly using his elbow to prop himself up. He turned back to see if Shadow was still there, but in his place, there was a dud orb, dead and lifeless.

Shadow was gone. Permanently.

Astro heaved a sigh of relief, coming up to a sitting position. He began crawling slowly over to the orb, and with a smile, picked it up in the palm of his hand and crushed it, letting the ashes of the dead orb blow away in the breeze.

Suddenly snapping back to the present, he gasped. "Cora!" he shouted, quickly scrambling to his feet and jumping into the air towards Metro City in the distance.

He prayed she was still alive. Prayed as hard as he possibly could that she was still alive. Bright blue flames trailing behind him, he sped up to where he last saw her...saw her... He began to choke up, a tear sliding down his cheek. He wiped at it aimlessly, continuing onward as fast as he could. Finally he reached the spot and flew downwards.

He froze, his hands shooting to his mouth, his eyes watering up. Laying there below him was Cora. Her face was pale, her eyes were closed, and her mouth hung open. Her arm and leg were twisted the wrong way, and her face was bloody and dirty. Tears began flowing like a river down his face as he slowly floated down to her. "Cora..." he sobbed. "Cora...! Please...don't be dead... Please! Wake up _please!"_ Astro fell to his knees and placed his hands gently on her arm. "Cora...!"

There was no response, and Astro's head fell to her chest as he let out more and more sobs. "COORRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, throwing his head back.

A slight scuffle sounded to his left, and he immediately whipped around, changing his arm into a cannon and pointing it in the direction of the sound.

"Whoa! Calm down!" Lila exclaimed, her hands up in defense. Blaze, Dr. Tenma, and Dr. Elefun all appeared from around the corner, stricken looks on their faces. Lila seemed to see Cora laying in front of Astro, and she gasped, tears shining in her eyes. Soon, everyone else gasped, and even Blaze began tearing up. "C-Cora?" Lila asked in a quiet voice.

"She's dead," Astro growled, voice cracking as he cried, turning back to Cora. "It's just not _fair!"_

Lila frowned. "She was so young!"

Astro punched the side of a concrete slab in frustration, breaking it into thousands of little pieces, crying softly to himself. Blaze came up behind Astro and knelt down next to him, wiping a tear from his eye. "She's in a better place now."

"IT'S NOT _FAIIIRRR!"_ he screamed, making Blaze fall back.

As Astro continued crying, Blaze felt for a pulse on Cora's neck. He gasped. "Astro!"

"What...?" he growled, sobbing.

"She...she's still alive!" he exclaimed.

Astro's eyes widened in surprise. "What...?"

"She's got a pulse!" Blaze exclaimed.

Astro scrambled forward, feeling for himself. Sure enough, she did have a pulse, but it was very faint, and it was fading fast. He turned his head around. "She won't make it," he said. "There aren't any hospitals left standing!"

Tenma sighed. "Astro, you need to take her to Hamegg's."

"What? But—"

"He had medical field training," he explained. "You have to get over to where he lives quickly! ...Before she dies."

Astro frowned, but placed a determined look on his face, turning back around and scooping Cora up gently in his arms. Once he did, she let out a small whine, and Astro couldn't help but shed a small tear. Without a second thought, Astro burst into the air as quickly—but as carefully—as he could manage towards Hamegg's hideout. _I hope she makes it..._

After arriving, Astro landed in front of the door. He pounded on the door with his free hand. "Hamegg! Anyone! Please! SOMEONE OPEN THIS DOOR!"

The face plate opened on the door, and the little girl behind it gasped. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed, quickly opening the door.

Astro hurried inside and past the girl. Sounds of laughter and playing were heard inside and once Astro stepped through the curtain, everything immediately stopped. All the little kids were watching, staring silently as Astro hurried past with Cora in his arms. He headed quickly up the stairs to Hamegg's workshop, and through the open doorway.

"Oh, back so soon, Zane?" Hamegg asked, turning around. He gasped as he saw Astro standing there, Cora dangling from his arms. "Oh, dear Lord! What happened?!"

"She was dropped off a building..."

"OH MY—"

"Yeah, can you just _help_ her already?!" Astro shouted with a frown.

Hamegg nodded quickly, hurrying over to Astro and taking the girl from his arms. "I'll do the best I can, Astro..." he sighed. "I'll do the best I can..."

Astro watched Hamegg with sad eyes. "Please...fix her..."

* * *

Several months had passed, and Metro City was back to normal! It was now floating in the air, after Tenma and the other scientists had finally rediscovered the way to get it back up in the air. Astro burst through the doors to the Metro Hospital, a smile on his face. He hurried through the halls, almost knocking over a doctor on his way.

"Whoops! Careful, Astro!" the doctor laughed.

"Haha, sorry!" Astro laughed.

Turning another corner, he came to her room. Room 8762. He knocked softly on the door. "Come in," a soft voice called.

Astro opened the door quietly, and smiled as he saw Cora on the bed. She had a smile on her face, and her leg in a cast. He arm had healed up pretty quickly, but after that fall she had, she had broken nearly all of her ribs, got a concussion, a broken leg, arm, and a fractured spine. Luckily, they were able to fix her spine so she wouldn't be paralyzed.

Ah, technology! How he loved the technology they had these days. "Hey," Astro chuckled, sitting next to Cora on the bed.

She smiled at him. "Hey, Astro."

He looked away, slightly blushing. "So how was your session today?"

"Oh, good," she replied. "We're working on back stretches now."

"Cool, cool..." he murmured, nodding.

"Yup...cool..."

"Cora, I—"

"Astro, I—"

They both paused, looking each other in the eyes and blushing furiously. Astro looked away and scratched the back of his head. "Y-you go first."

Cora giggled, but went on. "I've been meaning to tell you this for a while now..."

"Uh-huh..." Astro mumbled.

"Well, I really like you..."

"Go on..."

"I guess you could say...that I _love_ you..."

"Do tell...do tell..."

Cora punched him playfully in his shoulder and Astro turned to her. "Silly!" she scoffed.

Astro chuckled. "I really like you—love you—too, Cora," he replied.

Cora's eyes began to water and Astro lost his smile. "Oh, no! Is it something I did? Did I say something wrong-?"

Cora's lips met with his and—surprised at first—Astro's eyes were wide. Then slowly, he closed his eyes and kissed her back.

_From the ashes, it rose, and from the ashes, it fell. Until death do us part, we never can tell whether the sun will rise or the sun will fall, that's where our destiny lies through it all._

* * *

**A/N: **The final chapter *sniff* I think the poem I wrote at the bottom is so darn ADORABLE! ...And awesome. XDDD Don't forget, there will be an epilogue after this! I just gotta write it! :3 And yes, there WILL be a sequel!

Astro: YAAAAY MORE SUFFERING!

Me: -_- *facepalm* ANYWAY! Leave reviews and such! :33


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"I did it, Elefun!" Tenma exclaimed with a laugh, his hands outstretched towards the device in front of him. Elefun came up behind Tenma with a look of surprise and wonder on his face. "I finally did it!"

"What is _it,_ exactly?" Elefun asked, turning to look at him.

"It's my newest creation!" Tenma chuckled, smiling. "I call it…the Time Warp!"

"…Annnnd what does it do?"

Tenma rolled his eyes and turned to Elefun. "It lets us view images from the past and the future!" he explained. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Y-yes, it's wonderful, Tenma," Elefun replied. "But don't you think you're being a little eccentric here? I mean, viewing images from the future? From the past? You can't do that, time travel hasn't been perfected yet."

Tenma shook his head rapidly. "No, no, no! This isn't time travel. It's just a machine that allows you to sneak peeks into the past and the future, nothing more!"

"I see…" Elefun murmured, rubbing his chin. "Then I don't suppose you'll let me try it out, would you?"

"Of course!" Tenma chuckled, pointing onward.

Elefun hesitantly approached the machine, staring at it with complete awe. As soon as he walked up to it, he looked slightly to the left, noticing a lever on the side. He pulled it down, and the machine started up, electricity crackling on the top of it.

"Now type in the year you want to look at," Tenma observed.

Elefun thought quickly for a moment, before typing in the year 2013, which was the year before Metro City—and everywhere else—had vanished underwater. Suddenly, screens appeared on the top above Elefun's head and he stepped back to view the screen.

The screen displayed vivid images of the past of Metro City, before it had all gone underwater. It showed a couple walking into a restaurant holding hands, cars with wheels zooming on by, a plane flying in the sky, and…

Elefun blinked his eyes, staring at the blurry image in front of him. There was a group of children walking around and they looked vaguely familiar… "Tenma, can the image be paused?!"

Without a second thought, Tenma hurried forward and pressed a yellow button, and the screen paused up top.

Elefun gasped. "Oh, dear…"

"What? What is it…" He broke off, looking up at the screen. "You…you typed in 2013, didn't you?"

"Almost 1,000 years ago, yes!" Elefun exclaimed, blinking, still not believing his eyes.

On the screen, walking to somewhere in particular…

Were Blaze, Lila, Cora, Astro, and Zane.

* * *

**A/N:** WHAAAAAT?! They're in the past? OH NOOOO What's gonna happen? :o XDDD

I'd like to thank everyone for reading, faving, and following this story, because you guys made this story what it was. I'd especially like to thank Moonlightpheonix-xX for helping me write this! :3 Stay tuned for the sequel!


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